Smartphone Patent War
- Oct 10, 2013
- 2 min read
Last year, Apple was awarded over $1 billion when a jury ruled that Samsung had infringed on five Apple patents. A judge earlier this year vacated about $450 million of the original award and ordered a new jury to recalculate the damages for patent infringement.
At the retrial, Apple asked for $380 million in damages while Samsung believed it owed Apply only $52 million. The two disagreed on the amount of royalties, lost Apple profits, and Samsung’s profits. But they both agreed that Samsung sold 10.7 million infringing devices which generated $3.5 billion in revenue.
In Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Apple alleged that several of Samsung’s Android phones and tablets, specifically the Galaxy series, infringed on Apple’s intellectual property: its patents, trademarks, user interface and style. These included an Apple design patent covering the basic shape of the iPhone along with 193 screenshots of various iPhone graphical user interfaces.
Apple successfully convinced the jury that Samsung copied various iPhone features like using your fingers to pinch and zoom on the screen along with design touches like the phone’s flat, black glass screen. In the end, the jury found Samsung had infringed on Apple’s patents.
The sole issue in the retrial was damages and just how much Samsung owes Apple for infringing its patents. Apple argued Samsung’s copied devices hurt the company, while Samsung argued that people seek out its devices more for their differences than similarities to Apple gadgets.
The jury at the retrial awarded a new figure of $290 million to Apple on November 21, 2013. But was this decision too Apple friendly?
The damages award should put the patent holder in approximately the financial position it would have been in had the infringement not occurred. It is meant to compensate the patent holder and not to punish an infringer. Patent infringement cases should be more about protecting innovation than about winning money.
The ruling in this landmark patent case will have a serious impact on the smartphone industry and the fierce competition in the global market for consumer mobile communications. And this is only the beginning.
Another patent trial starts in March. The upcoming trial in 2014 deals with a newer set of devices from both companies as well as different patents. So stay tuned.
By: Briana Dudas
photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/121843045@N05/1358481084 mahmoud99725 via http://photopin.com and http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
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