Anyone who’s alive probably knows that Apple and Samsung have been doing battle in a number of forums for a couple of years now. There’s a lot to these issues, and we don’t propose to cover the background here. Probably the best place to read up on things from the get go is over here at Wikipedia’s entry on the Apple vs Samsung saga, Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
However, today, this matter reached a pretty significant step.
Today in California, Apple’s home state, Apple has secured a jury verdict that found Samsung infringed on six of eleven patents for mobile devices, and awarded Apple more than $US1 billion in damages. This is the first lawsuit involving Apple and Samsung that has gone before a US jury, and it hasn’t ended at all well for Samsung.
The jury considering the matter — overseen by federal judge Lucy Koh — rejected patent claims by Samsung and its request for damages, and found that many of Apple’s claims were valid.
I don’t envy the jury’s task – they were faced with over 600 questions to determine, covering a range of patents, determinations of Samsung and Apple’s respective behaviour, and trying to sort out what should be done as a result of those findings.
Apple didn’t get everything that it asked for however – it had sought as much as $US2.75 billion in damages, alleging that Samsung had copied patents relating to the iPhone and the iPad in the formulation of many of its popular devices.
The matter isn’t finished yet either – the matter returns to court on 20 September where Apple is widely expected to seek injunctions against the sale of a number of Samsung devices.
What this means for Samsung and Apple in Australia is yet to be seen. Samsung devices (and indeed Apple devices) have been banned from sale in some countries as a result of ongoing litigation between these two, but whether the US decision will impact on things here… well… it’s too early to say.
[Ed: There really is too much news, and too little time for us to digest it here, for us to give you a real in depth look at what’s going on. I thoroughly recommend reading up on The Verge’s coverage, which goes to a fantastic depth in analysis of this issue. The best place to start reading is Apple vs. Samsung: the verdict – really, if you’re interested in this, you can’t go past their coverage. Keep an eye out on our podcast for further discussion of the issue in the next week or so.]
