Apple vs Samsung: Apple Wins and Gets $1 Billion Compensation!

Posted by on August 27, 2012 in Blog | 0 comments

Apple vs Samsung: Apple Wins and Gets $1 Billion Compensation!

The jury in the trial Apple vs Samsung has finally reached a verdict, which turned out to be pretty surprising and unexpected for almost everybody – Samsung have infringed a list of Apple’s patents and therefore the company from Cupertino, California will be awarded with a little over $1 billion in damages. It is known that the two tech giants are leading their patent wars all over the world but the outcome from the case in San Jose, California was the first big victory for Apple. Of course nothing is definitive – the two sides will be back in the court on 20th September, when Samsung will appeal the verdict.

Although Samsung will pay Apple 2.5x times less than the expected – around $2.5 billion – the picture is really dark for the Korean manufacturer because the colossal compensation might only be the beginning. The court decided that Samsung have infringed a set of Apple’s patents, more specifically the 381 bounce-back functionality while scrolling down a list, the 915 for users’ navigation and finger gestures, the 163 tap-to-zoom, the grid layout of the icons, even the curved edges of the devices. All these functionalities, features and design specifications can be found in substantial number of devices:

Captivate, Continuum, Droid Charge,, Epic 4G, Exhibit 4G, Fascinate, Galaxy Indulge, Galaxy Prevail, Galaxy S, Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S II (AT&T), Galaxy Tab, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Gem, Infuse 4G, Mesmerize. Nexus S 4G. Transform. Vibrant

samsung-vs-apple-patent-wars

Samsung vs Apple – Patent Wars

 

This means that if everything ends up in favor of Apple (which is highly expected) in front of Samsung there will be two choices – whether to pay additional license taxes to Apple, apart from the $1 billion or simply to take all the upper-mentioned products down from the US market and create new and unique ones. What is more the jury had made a mistake in the form, awarding the Galaxy Tab 10.1 with damages while it didn’t infringe any patents. After close check from the lawyers of the both sides the mistake was found and corrected which resulted in $2.2 million less in the final sum. Sadly Samsung were found guilty not only for infringing Apple’s patents, but infringing them willingly, leading to additional $57 million compensation.

Don’t think that Samsung gave up without a fight – they also accused Apple of infringing a set of their patents like UMTS (3G) patent or the ability to listen music in the background while using your device for something else. Unfortunately their arguments were found invalid by the jury and thus Samsung will be awarded $0 in damages.

Apple-vs-Samsung-verdict

The jury has reached a verdict in favor of Apple!

 

It is clear that Apple are more than delighted with the outcome of the trial, but who else might be in high spirits because of Samsung’s loss – Microsoft of course. Samsung are currently the biggest OEM partner of Google and their Android OS. As long as Android is an open source project Apple cannot sue Google directly. That is why they sue the manufacturers that uses Android – in the case of Apple vs Samsung not all the infringed patents were because of the operating system and it would be foolish to put all the blame over Android. On the other hand some of them were. Take into account and the fact that after the first won trial, Apple are now going after HTC – the company that is another “friend” of Google. This fact makes the other OEMs start orienting to another OS provider that is more original and different from the Apple’s iOS. That is right, I am talking about Windows Phone and in particular – the expected Windows Phone 8. In the context of the latest events and truly unexpected give-away of justice in the American legal system Bill Cox wrote the following tweet: “Windows Phone is looking gooooood right now”. According to the “big” MS mobile fan-base, the next major mobile OS that “looks and tastes” differently than iOS is WP. Although major here can be pretty relative, in a matter of market share. Surely some experts say that after October 2012 Microsoft will gain positions both in the mobile and tablet market. Now with the victory of Apple over Samsung, the future becomes a little bit darker for Android and a little bit brighter for WP (this concerns only the US market, for now). Undoubtedly bringing the biggest in the mobile sector won’t happen just like that and won’t be a piece of cake. The point here is that once Apple have succeeded to sue an Android oriented OEM like Samsung, they will be more encouraged to chase and the other manufacturers that, as they say, infringe their patents – really the best thing that can happen to Windows Phone!

windows-phone-benefiting-from-apple-victory

Windows Phone benefiting from Apple’s victory!