“Steve Jobs, famous for his view that a product’s look and feel is just as important as how it works, was vindicated by a California court exactly one year after he stepped down as chief executive officer of Apple Inc.,” Peter Burrows reports for Bloomberg. “A jury found on Aug. 24 that Samsung Electronics Co. must pay Apple $1.05 billion for infringing six patents, including four covering the design of its mobile devices.”
“Courts tend to give greater credence to utility patents, which cover a product’s underlying technology. This case was distinct for its emphasis on design patents, which reflect Jobs’s focus on the stylized nature of Apple’s devices. Of the 359 patents listing Jobs as co-inventor, 86 percent are the design variety, according to MDB Capital Group LLC.,” Burrows reports. “‘Given the infringement of the design patents, which protects the non-functional appearance of the iPad and iPhone, Apple now has considerable power to keep knock-off phones off the market,’ said Tim Holbrook, a professor at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta.”
Burrows reports, “By early 2011, Jobs had decided to use the legal system as aggressively as possible to protect Apple’s intellectual property. He famously told his biographer, Walter Isaacson, that he would spend ‘every penny’ in Apple’s coffers to combat Google’s software. ‘I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product,’ Jobs said. ‘I’m willing to go to thermonuclear war on this.’ On Aug. 24, Jobs posthumously enlisted allies in that war in a nine-person jury in federal court in California.”
Read more in the full article here.
Steve is vindicated every time a person picks up an Apple device and smiles in delight and satisfaction. Thank you forever Steve! And Congrats on this thermonuclear salvo.
Boycott Korean products!
Including this:
That videos 60+ million view count is the result of pathetic south korean scum “YG Entertainment
” who use zombie “starcraft” servers to get view counts up by repetdly querrying youtube, The koreans will “claim” that this is a new viral craze is a huge hit and people around the world love their culture and music because of trickery like this.
Don’t you ever wonder why various unknown south korean videos get 50 million views in 1 week?
Be smart and DO not fall for the korean governments social engineering tricks.
Apple rightly stood their ground and gave samsung/south-korea inc a good ass whooin’ for their blatant illegal copying.
I hate EVERYTHING korean because they steal copy and claim it as their own.
think i am talking BS? Go to your local sushi bar or Japanese restaurant. In almost all instances they are owned by korean-Americans. They know that people pay more for Quality Japanese cuisine so koreans “pretend” to be Japanese and sell inferior food with the high price.
That tactic is very similar to the samsung case. Copy the superior leader, pretend to be the superior leader, sell inferior products and claim the profits!
Koreans will do any trick to scam money out of people.
I hate koreans who do this and suggest everyone should BOYCOTT KOREAN products immediately
CARS-kia hyundai, licensed GDI direct injection engine technology from Mitsubishi of Japan back in 1999, claims it as their own invention. Copies honda, one example is hyundais logo (H logo is ripped of from hondas H). copy and pretend, rinse and repeat….
TECHNOLOGY-easy: samscum- rips off and violates apples patents, got caught resulting in multi Bilion dollar fine.
MUSIC-kara-snsd. kpop. fake no talent losers who bleach their face, get tons of face surgery and dye their hair blonde to look white, plagiarises US artists
BOYCOTT THE FOLLOWING KOREAN PRODUCTS
SAMSUNG
LG
Kumho/Hankook Tires
Hyundai
kia
Loved that video couldn’t stop laughing, thanks for sharing it. LoL
Didn’t realize MC Hammer pants were back.
Apple wining over Samsung is good news for those of us who use their technology. In the Pharmaceutical Drug industry, there are brand name drugs that a sponsoring drug company invested a billion dollars in and brought it to market via the decade long IND process. For example, Pfizer studied Sildenafil and after a decade and a billion dollars they brought Viagra to the market to treat ED. They are subsequently awarded a period of “exclusivity” where generic drug companies are not allowed to “copy” Sildenafil. Someday, generic Viagra will become available. When it does, everyone will still desire brand name Viagra but will strongly consider generic Sildenafil as after all, maybe the erection will be good enough to make it cost effective.
In a similar manner, Apple deserves a reward for inventing the technology that Samsung so slavishly copied. The question may be for how long does it deserve exclusivity and patent protection? Drugs like Viagra get about a decade on the average. The song, “Happy Birthday,” receives royalties in perpetuity generations after its original writer is dead and gone. So every time you hear Happy Birthday on TV, someone is receiving a check.
Some time between Viagra and Happy Birthday should be fair for Apple.
It isn’t about “fair” – it is about intellectual property rights and the laws that support those rights.
If a country is a signer of the various treaties with the WIPO and they wilfully violate those laws, then there are legal repercussions – if the patent holder decides to seek damages. It is very expensive to file a patent worldwide. Close to $5,000,000, if you want to protect your innovation / invention in every country and maintain it (keep it in force) for the life of the patent. Annual fees are often required to keep your patent current. The life of the patent varies from country to country – 8 years in some to 13 years in others. After that it can (and usually does) become public domain – generic in the drug world.
Your reference to copyright law is 70 years after the death of the filer of the copyright. Patents don’t last as long.
What is fair? Don’t steal other people’s work. If you do, be prepared to pay – one way or another.
Trade dress or design patents are just as critical as engineering / mechanical patents to the filer who has spent time, money and most especially intellect creating a unique item.
Does that help?
Don’t you love how Scumsuck tries to minimize the case down to “you can’t patent rounded rectangles!”. As if that’s all this case was about. In effect they’re saying “look at THIS hand, not the other guilty hand.” They don’t see what is as plain as the nose on anybody’s face and expect us to not see it either based on their say-so and not our own eyes. Talk about brazen and disrespectful hucksterism.
Competitors do not need to be afraid. If you have not copied the design of Apple, Apple will leave you alone. You are free to embellish your own rectangle with your unique design. There are more than one way to design a smartphone. It can include a stylus, or a physical keyboard (kids love texting on keyboards) and if you want to use touch gestures come up with your own unique design and software. Never, never mimic Apple’s ways or you would have your fingers burnt. Go and get innovative. Apple and the courts do not prevent you from designing a smartphone, but never take shortcuts from Apple’s playbook. Ask Samsung if you do not understand the consequences of copycatting.
MDN : thanks for the opportunity to vote this slug out of Apple. Send his ass to Walmart where he belongs! Get him the hell out of Apple. Can you imagine how much bad publicity this has generated for Apple? Unfuckingbelievable! Get him out now Cook! Keep this in front of everyone am MDN. Don’t let it die down please. Thanks MDN!
Steven Jobs does not need “vindication”.
Touché
VINDICATION
That is precisely what I said last weekend in my post:
http://beta.fool.com/jaans/2012/08/27/understanding-apple-big-court-win-what-does-it-mea/10616/