General

Jury returns verdict in dispute between Apple and Samsung

In a previous post we wrote about the most recent litigation between Apple Inc. and Samsung regarding allegations that each company infringed patents held by the other company. The technology allegedly taken could be used on smartphones and other devices. Apple sought a total of $2.2 billion in its initial claim while Samsung countersued for $6 million. At the time of that post, the jury was being selected. That jury recently returned a verdict.

The jury determined that that Samsung did indeed infringe on patents Apple had for smartphones. Specifically it determined Samsung infringed the following patents:

• Background syncing
• Automatic word correction
• Quick linking
• Universal searching
• Slide-to-lock

Accordingly, Apple was awarded damages. The damages awarded–$120 million–were much less than Apple initially sought. Samsung was not a complete loser in the endeavor. Apple must pay it $158,000 in damages for the Samsung owned patents it infringed. This too was much less than what Samsung sought.

In most instances the theft of intellectual property a business relies upon impacts that business negatively financially. If a business is unable to make a profit for a certain period of time, it could fail. As a result, when a patent or other type of intellectual property is infringed upon, lawsuits such as this one could be filed.

As we mentioned in our previous post on this topic, this is not the first time a business dispute has arisen between the two companies. Because the smartphone market is so competitive, it may not be the last, either.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter, “Jury Orders Samsung to Pay Apple $120 Million for Patent Infringement,” Associated Press, May 2, 2014

Mon Aug 27, 1:29pm