“In a historic ruling on August 24th, a U.S. District Court jury awarded Apple over $1.05 billion in damages after finding Samsung guilty of infringing on six of Apple’s ‘design’ patents,” Trefis Team writes for Forbes. “We say ‘historic’ not because of the high dollar amount, which in itself is not particularly significant to either company considering their huge sizes individually, but because of the ramifications that the ruling has on future innovations in the mobile industry. Apart from the possible impact that the judgement has on the mobile industry’s future R&D spending decisions, it also increases Apple’s clout in a market it commands at least 70% of profits of each quarter.”
“Apple could use this as a precedent to press further charges against Samsung as well as other Google’s Android partners such as Motorola and HTC. Apple has already filed an injunction to temporarily ban the sale of some of the patent-infringing Samsung devices in the U.S,” Trefis writes. “If Apple succeeds in doing so, Samsung may see only a limited near-term impact considering that these devices are fairly old now and are nearing their end-of-product-cycle. But it could set a dangerous precedent for a similar case that is scheduled for next year that concerns some of Samsung’s newer models such as the highly successful Galaxy S III.”
Trefis writes, “From a broader industry perspective, with smartphones proliferating and mobile devices seeing a huge growth in demand, we could be seeing the start of a fundamental change in how competitors try to outdo each other in these hotly contested markets… Apple, being at the forefront of the mobile device revolution, stands to benefit immensely from such a shift as the ruling has given its near-exclusive control over some of the features that are now considered essential for a smartphone experience. Other competitors will now have to design effective workarounds to avoid patent litigations and may be relegated to playing catch-up with Apple in the near-term… Eventually, this should lead to more design innovations, leading the industry forward in terms of both hardware as well as design improvements.”
Read more in the full article here.
Watching these cub reporters’ attempts to their heads around this issue is like watching a chihuahua try to rip the tires off a bus.
Yeah, but this guy seems to be able to see the big picture correctly. S
What it means is other companies need to start coming up with their own shit. Not stealing apples. wait, I thought that was what competition is. The imitators conveniently forgot that.
head juror may have already fuct it all up. What a moron for doing all these interviews.
The interviews are also after the fact, not during the trial. Modern jurisprudence needs to deal with the Information Age, media and the Internet and not let people use it as a reason to appeal. Keeping everything locked up and zipped tight serves no one except the victor of course. As taxpayers we have a right to know about a case after its been tried.
No we don’t.
In the United States, yes we do.
All those misguided geeks who think Apple is the patent sue happy bad guy and Samsung the poor victim may ironically end up with much better products than when Samsung and others slavishly copied. On the other hand people who don’t copy like RIM and WP7 are in the cellar sales wise which points to the wisdom of Apple’s designs. All I can say (with millions others) is I can’t wait for my new iPhone!
Once again, the tired argument: The only reason that Samsung and the others haven’t innovated was because stealing Apple’s ideas was just too tempting! Not because they wouldn’t know innovation if it bit them in the ass! Oh, nooooo!
——RM
We know their manifesto is leaching. Pouring on the salt, removing their fangs from your IP and stamping them OUT is inevitable. No one likes leaches. Only sick companies tolerate leaches
Die Samsung Die.
A big FSCK YOU! to IP leaches. Get creative or get your butt sued off. Justice will be served. (At least outside of China and Korea).
Most important part of what Trefis writes;
“Other competitors will now have to design effective workarounds to avoid patent litigations and may be relegated to playing catch-up with Apple in the near-term… Eventually, this should lead to more design innovations, leading the industry forward in terms of both hardware as well as design improvements.”
“……Other competitors will now have to design effective workarounds to avoid patent litigations and may be relegated to playing catch-up with Apple in the near-term… Eventually, this should lead to more design innovations, leading the industry forward in terms of both hardware as well as design improvements.”
Finally, a positive and clear-headed statement on the matter.