Apple Wins $1 Billion Patent Case
Out of context: Reply #87
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- deathboy0
With all of the media focus on the U.S. trial of Apple vs. Samsung, it's easy to lose track of the other cases going on around the world between the two juggernauts. The South Korean case just wrapped up and the court ruled that Samsung did not "slavishly copy" Apple's designs. Both sides were found to be infringing upon each other's patents though. Here's a breakdown of the results:
Samsung’s products infringed Apple’s ‘bounce-back’ patent -
Samsung's Galaxy S, Galaxy S II, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Tab and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 have been banned from South Korea.
Samsung will have to pay 25 Million won in damages (which amounts to about $22,000 Dollars.)
Apple's products infringed two of Samsung's patents related to wireless transmission of data -
Apple's iPhone 4 and iPad 2 have been banned from South Korea
Apple will have to pay 40 Million won in damages (which amounts to about $35,000 dollars.)
As far as Apple's "trade dress" arguments are concerned, (that's the accusation of copying), here was the South Korean judge's statement,There are lots of external design similarities between the iPhone and Galaxy S, such as rounded corners and large screens ... but these similarities had been documented in previous products,” a judge at the Seoul Central District Court said on Friday.
The court also stated that there was "no possibility" of confusion between Apple and Samsung products for consumers.Obviously, both parties are likely to appeal these decisions, but at least we are seeing some progress. The case was mostly a "wash" for both parties. Now, if we could just get the U.S. judge and jury to pay attention to the South Korean case, maybe some fair and equitable result can be attained in the U.S. as well.
Kind of crazy to see how another jury in another country reacts. Less monetary rewards but banning of the products. Seems like a loss for the south koreans who want to own a product, and likely will just create a black market for the product. Like banning alcohol
The stuff that was patented probably shouldn't have been granted patents. Copycatting is a good thing for consumers. Might hurt the originators of truly original things, but for the most part it allows for other companies to produce similiar items and drive down prices while forcing the necessity for new innovations. Pretty hard to innovate with no start up capital and one player who can just buyout any competition and shelve it. Same shit people worried about with microsoft.