“Apple Inc. asked a U.S. appeals court today to force Samsung Electronics Co. stop using unique features and designs of the iPhone that were found to be infringed by a federal jury last year,” Susan Decker reports for Bloomberg.
“‘Apple spent five years and $5 billion to develop a product and it was a revolutionary product,’ said Apple lawyer William Lee of WilmerHale in Boston. ‘Samsung said, ‘We can copy it easily.’ They spent three months to bring a product to market,'” Decker reports. “Apple is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, which specializes in patent law, to overturn an order letting Samsung continue selling products that a California federal jury said infringed Apple patents. The jury awarded $1 billion in compensation, although part of the damages must be retried.”
Decker reports, “The appeals court isn’t expected to rule in the case for several months. The hearing, however, came hours before the U.S. International Trade Commission, also in Washington, is scheduled to announce whether it will ban imports of some Samsung products based on allegations they infringe other Apple patents.”
Read more in the full article here.
I have read @ another websites which said, If the court found Shame Shung guilty, it would not make a dent in Shamed Shung bank accounts, meaning it has gained HUGE profits already with its smartphones.
Samsung should be forced to disgorge all ill-got monies.
Parties found to willfully infringe patents are libel for treble damages which is triple the amount of actual damage. If this is ever reached Samsung will be needing this cash.
US Courts should protect made in USA and properly patented IP.
“trivial patents” (Google referring to Apple iPhone patents)
LMAO, they only revolutionized the world of mobile technology…
It’s strange how a patent is classified as “trivial” or “obvious”. Like pinch to zoom or the sling bounce, it may seems obvious after the fact. The criteria to concede a patent should be who first requested that and use it in some actual product or service. Obviousness is intangible!
I’m on board with this. However, I wonder if we’re going about this all wrong.
Maybe what needs to be done here is: Apple grabs Samsung’s ball (I said “ball” not balls, ’cause I’m pretty sure Samsung has none of those kind of balls anyway), and runs with it. By that I mean, if Samsung wants to be hardware that runs iOS then make them pay for it, and I don’t mean $5.00 per unit, I mean lease them the rights to run iOS and charge them – I don’t know, 5-20 billion per year (because obviously Apple will always be improving and developing iOS), plus a per unit license fee.
Instead of treating Samsung like a threat, treat them like a legitimate revenue source. No more courts, Samsung gets to legally do what its already doing illegally, and both Samsung and Apple share prices take a positive hit – Samsung because they’re now legit. and Apple because they suddenly have a major new revenue source.
In other words, reward the thief?