Samsung to Pay Apple $539 for Copying Patented Smartphone Features
Once again, the clash between the two technology giants, Apple and Samsung, seems likely to last forever. In the recent hearings, the jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple $539 million to Apple for copying a number of patented features. But there is a chance that Samsung would appeal the verdict.
The famous battle between the two market leaders over five patents started back in 2011. Apple reported that Samsung breached its intellectual property by producing some of devices (including the Droid Charge, and two Galaxy models — S 4G and S2).
The total claims of Apple amounted to $1.05 billion. In 2015, it was decreased to $399 million. In the previous hearings, the judge ordered Samsung to pay Apple $5.3 million in damages, when the court ruled in favor of Apple, confirming that two utility patens had been breached by Samsung. Finally, the sum in damages was set to $533.3 million for three design patents and $5.3 for the two utility patents, making the total won by Apple equal to about $539 million.
That said, the three design patents are the most distinguishing matter, as according to them, the device is described as a black rectangular front face with rounded corners (1), with raised rim (2), and with a grid of 16 colorful icons (3) — features that can be found in virtually all modern smartphones from a wide range of manufacturers.
It seems that Samsung hopes to obtain a favorable judgement in future. “Today’s decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favor of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages,” Samsung said in a statement. “We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers.”