Apple and Samsung's lengthy legal battle is at an end: and Apple has emerged the clear victor. Samsung must pay the iPhone maker some $1.049 billion in damages for infringing a number of patents and trademarks.
After days of deliberation, a US jury found that Samsung infringed all but one of Apple's patents in the vast majority of the Android-powered devices on trial. The full results are available in the verdict document.
On the other hand, the jurors said that Apple did not infringe any of Samsung's patents. That means that Apple won't have to pay a penny in damages.
The patents
The jury found that Samsung copied Apple's 'double tap to zoom' idea, 'pinch and zoom' and the way that pages bounce back like rubber bands when you try and scroll too far off screen.
Samsung also stepped on the iPhone design patents, but the jury decided that the Galaxy Tab did not infringe the iPad's design.
And while Samsung was unable to prove that any of Apple's patents were invalid, Apple managed to argue that two of Samsung's patents - relating to the use of Intel chips - were exhausted, and thus were barred from use.
The statements
This is the culmination of a landmark case, which started more than a year ago when Apple filed a lawsuit against Samsung. The actual courtroom drama kicked off on July 30th, 2012, and about 40 hours of testimony and evidence - including an internal Samsung document that made clear references to copying the iPhone - were heard.
Apple is obviously quite pleased with the final outcome. In an email to Apple employees, CEO Tim Cook said, "the jury has now spoken. We applaud them for finding Samsung's behavior willful and for sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn't right."
Samsung is, naturally, less pleased about the jury's decision. "It is unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners," the company said in a statement. The verdict will "lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices."
The potential ban
This isn't the end, of course. There's the inevitable appeals process, and the two sides will return to court in September to discuss possible injunctions. That means that some of the Samsung products cited in the case (including the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab) may be banned from sale in the US.
News
Editor, PocketGamer.co.uk
Forget schools and textbooks: anything Mark knows, he's learnt from games. His eclectic knowledge of rock music comes from Guitar Hero and his in-depth repertoire of skating tricks is thanks to Tony Hawk. Just don't ask him to fix your plumbing.
Top Stories
Feature
2 hours, 37 minutes ago
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from a battle royale to a console classic remake
Feature
May 16th, 2024
Behind the scenes: How adding sandwich offers to an idle merge game boosted three metrics at once
as
Feature
May 16th, 2024
Honor of Kings set for June 20th global launch after $15 billion+ revenue in China
Events
Valencia Indie Summit 2024 | Europe | May 16th |
Digital Dragons | Europe | May 19th |
GamesBeat Summit 2024 | North America | May 20th |
Mobidictum Meetup Tallinn May 2024 | Europe | May 21st |
Nordic Game Spring 2024 | Nordic | May 21st |
Impact 2024 - Indie Games | May 23rd | |
MomoCon 2024 | North America | May 24th |
Morocco Gaming Expo | Africa | May 24th |
Popular Stories
News
May 10th, 2024
Week in Views - Xbox's mobile games store is doomed to fail, Sonic meets the Angry Birds, and Apple's iPad problem
Feature
May 14th, 2024