Did you think that Samsung’s phone looked a lot like an Apple iPhone? So did a California jury. They ordered Samsung to pay Apple nearly $539 million in financial damages for infringing on Apple’s design and utility patents, per CNET.
The patent infringement saga dates back to 2011, when Apple originally took Samsung to court. A trial in 2012 determined that in 2010 and 2011, Samsung sold 15.3 million phones that infringed on five Apple iPhone design patents and a few utility patents, too. Apple won, but the wrangling over damages lead all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, who did their best to apply the 1887 patent law to these newfangled gadgets. Eventually, the Supreme Court sided with Samsung’s reasoning but sent the case back to lower court to do the math. The new verdict is half-way between the nearly $1 billion settlement that Apple wanted and the $28 million amount Samsung thought they owed.
The nearly seven-year fight is probably not over yet: “Today’s decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favor of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages. We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers,” Samsung said in a statement.
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