“The Supreme Court handed a huge victory to Samsung on Tuesday, tossing out nearly $400 million in damages it was ordered to pay to Apple in their long-running patent infringement case,” Ina Fried writes for Recode. “The ruling, while sending Apple’s specific case back to a lower court, changes the landscape for how design patent verdicts can be calculated.”
“A federal jury had earlier ordered Samsung to pay Apple $399 million for infringing on design patents used in Apple’s iPhone, one part of a larger patent verdict for Apple,” Fried writes. “That amount was based on Samsung’s entire profits for the Samsung phones that were found to infringe. However, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that damages need not be calculated based on the profits for an entire device.”
“In a unanimous opinion, the court ruled Tuesday that juries need not award damages based on the profits for an entire product if the item consists of many parts,” Fried writes. “Apple, though, really lost this battle when it failed to get an injunction halting sales of Samsung phones. Since then, it’s basically been about how much money Samsung does or doesn’t have to pay — and the amounts here are essentially chump change for both.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As usual, design (art) is vastly undervalued by non-designers, in this case those who sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. In short: They don’t get it.
The crux of the issue: The main reason why Samsung et al. were able to sell phones and tablets at all was because they made fake iPhones and fake iPads designed to fool the hoi polloi in much the same way as how Microsoft et al. profited wildly from upside-down and backwards fake Macs at the end of the 20th century. Google, Samsung, HTC, Xiaomi, et al. are the Microsofts, HPs, Dells, and eMachines of the new century.
Apple’s products came first, then Samsung’s:
Here’s what Google’s Android looked like before and after Apple’s iPhone:
SEE ALSO:
U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rules for Samsung in Apple patent damages dispute; case sent back to lower court – December 6, 2016
Why the U.S. Supreme Court asked if Apple’s iPhone design is like a Volkswagen Beetle – October 12, 2016
Seemingly frustrated U.S. Supreme Court hears Apple, Samsung patent case – October 11, 2016
U.S. Supreme Court to hear Samsung, Apple damages dispute today – October 11, 2016
Apple wins appeal reinstating $119.6 million verdict against patent-infringer Samsung – October 7, 2016
Beleaguered Samsung struggles to put out the fires caused by their exploding phones – October 6, 2016
Dieter Rams, Norman Foster, and 100+ of the world’s top designers side with Apple in Samsung patent case – August 4, 2016
Apple to U.S. Supreme Court: Samsung stole our patents, should end its appeals and finally pay up – August 1, 2016
Obama nominates Lucy Koh for Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco – February 29, 2016
