Today history was made: the Samsung vs. Apple trial has finally come to a close. The jury came before Judge Koh and released the verdict: Samsung is guilty. Samsung was under fire for infringing on some of Apple’s key patents, such as the pinch-to-zoom, bounce back, and home screen layout patents.
All but three of Samsung’s devices in question were found to infringe upon the pinch-to-zoom patent, while all devices were found to infringe on the bounce back patent.
Samsung was also found guilty of copying Apple’s homescreen UI with their TouchWiz Android skin. This skin is used with most of Samsung’s popular Android phones and tablets.
On the other hand, Samsung was not found guilty of infringing on the iPad’s design with the Samsung Galaxy Tab.
If you think the patent infringements were bad enough, Samsung was found to have been infringing on Apple’s patents willfully. The jury said that someone at Samsung either knew or should have known that they were infringing on Apple’s patents.
The amount of damages that Samsung will have to pay Apple was determined to be $1,051,855,000.00. And while that may seem like a lot of money, it’s less than half of the $2.5 billion that Apple was seeking. Samsung will not be receiving any money in damages as they lost their case against the iPhone 3G and 3GS.
While everything seems great for Apple so far, Samsung’s legal team was found not guilty of violating anti-trust laws or agreements with the ETSI.
Update:
The jury was just called back to go over an inconsistency in one of their forms. The jury accidentally awarded Apple $2 million in damages for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G LTE when the device was apparently cleared for patent infringement. We’ll keep you updated when we hear more information from the courthouse.
Apple and Samsung have both released official statements about the case with Samsung rightfully being the Debbie Downer and Apple rightfully being overjoyed. We’ve embedded both statements below:
Apple:
We are grateful to the jury for their service and for investing the time to listen to our story and we were thrilled to be able to finally tell it. The mountain of evidence presented during the trail showed that Samsung’s copying went far deeper than even we knew. The lawsuits between Apple and Samsung were about much more than patents or money. They were about values. At Apple, we value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on earth. We make these products to delight our customers, not for our competitors to flagrantly copy. We applaud the court for finding Samsung’s behavior willful and for sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn’t right.
Samsung:
Today’s verdict should not be viewed as a win for Apple, but as a loss for the American consumer. It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices. It is unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners, or technology that is being improved every day by Samsung and other companies. Consumers have the right to choices, and they know what they are buying when they purchase Samsung products. This is not the final word in this case or in battles being waged in courts and tribunals around the world, some of which have already rejected many of Apple’s claims. Samsung will continue to innovate and offer choices for the consumer
Developing…
