Apple Awarded 1 Billion In Damages In Apple Vs. Samsung

[happysanook]

simply astonishing... more than 1billion awarded to Apple awarded for infringing on 1 finger to scroll, tap to zoom, and pinch gestures..

http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/24/apple-wins-patent-ruling-as-jury-finds-samsung-infringes/

[DrTuner]

Well Steve did invent the finger, didn't he ?

[watcharacters]

the 1 billion award or 1 finger to scroll, tap to zoom, and pinch gestures?

/

[snarky66]

Apple claim the entire Android OS is pirated from them.

[JimShortz]

In a US court of course... what a joke. We are all the losers as Apple attempts to throttle the main seller of reasonably priced excellent smartphones using ridiculous patents. Sad! The smaller manufacturers come next...

[wellred]

Good job and let that be a lesson Google, cough, Samsung.

And before people say Apple rip off in the same manner no they don't, they pay for the licences. If you look at Navigation on Android devices the iPhone won't have native navigation until iOS 6 and to achieve this they have gone out and aqquired licenses and even companies to make it happen. Same deal with maps and Street View. They've been paying Google to have these features on the iPhone.

In reverse Google and clan just copy something they like off the iPhone without asking or paying any fees, not any more though. I think the question you should be asking is who's playing above board here and who isn't?

As for who was the first to invest zoom or mutli touch It doesn't really matter in the scheme of things if Apple did or now, Apple brought Fingerworks along with other patents in the area. So while they didn't invent it, they have more than enough patents in the area. This is the key bit, and the Jury agreed.

What will be interesting now is if license their patents now or if they force Samsung to remove features from their devices. Multitouch is a key way phones work these days, removing it would seriously harm Android's usability in my opinion. Obviously they had the chance to license but refused in the past. Apple doesn't have to keep that option open to Samsung and with this huge win, may prefer to handicap Android where they can.

If I were Apple I could cut them off by the heels now. However doing so may not be such a bad thing overall for consumers as this will force other vendors to innovate, or at the very least have the vision to aqquire technology years in advance of it going mainstream and honing it to become popular.... as Apple have done.

[HaruHaru]

Hurray! more power to our patriotic jury in Cuppertino, California. It is about time OUR people have something to say about a foreign company. God bless America.

[JimShortz]

Hurray! more power to our patriotic jury in Cuppertino, California. It is about time OUR people have something to say about a foreign company. God bless America.

I'm glad you agree that the jury was being "patriotic" (aka biased as hell; but apparently blessed by god!) in this case... With the state of the American economy I guess it is understandable, although it doesn't cast the country in a good light. I really hope they sort out these patent laws soon and prevent the ridiculous patenting of just about anything, however trivial or obvious.

I live in fear of Apple patenting the "right hand with bum gun between the legs/left hand wipe motion". I do realise that this is an "obvious" two handed motion involved in wiping ones posterior, but they seem to patent any old sh*te these days, especially in the good ol' USA! Desperation in the face of the obvious perhaps?

[happysanook]

Well Steve did invent the finger, didn't he ?

if it was snap twice and click your heals to scroll that Samsung copied, okay, I understand...

you apple nuthuggers are a sad lot. using the finger to scroll? you've got to be <Snip!> kidding me... samsung didn't rip their code off, we're talking about natural gestures...

if you really want to get down to it, Palm is the originator for the entire smart device idea and Apple should be coughing up trillions.

Edited August 26, 2012 by metisdead
: Profanity.

[dominique355]

So now we know which is Apple's greatest invention ever, worth billions of dollars: a rectange in a frame with rounded corners. Wow!

I am not questioning the (patriotic) jury's knowledge, but seriously, an IP case decied by a jury? That's nonsense. And the results of this case prove it.

And a design patent issued by the USPTO for a rectangular display in a frame with rounded corners? Ridiculous!

I would wish Apple would spend more money for an innovative design rather than for stupid lawsuits. Try to beat your competitor in the market, not in the court room.

[harrry]

I prefer the Taiwan judgement. Both of you coppied, neither of you can sell them in Taiwan. Now that would make them think before using courts to stifle the competition.

Edited August 26, 2012 by harrry

[Thaddeus]

if you really want to get down to it, Palm is the originator for the entire smart device idea and Apple should be coughing up trillions.

Really?

Palm 1996

Newton 1993

[harrry]

if you really want to get down to it, Palm is the originator for the entire smart device idea and Apple should be coughing up trillions.

Really?

Palm 1996

Newton 1993

It was really Doublas Adams...in Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy.....round 1979

[muratremix]

Still, it doesnt change the fact that Samsung copied Apple. They had to pay something.

[happysanook]

if you really want to get down to it, Palm is the originator for the entire smart device idea and Apple should be coughing up trillions.

Really?

Palm 1996

Newton 1993

Okay... I stand corrected...

It was really Doublas Adams...in Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy.....round 1979

So Apple and Samsung and every smartphone / smart device / tablet maker who uses a finger to scroll or makes their device in the shape of a rectangle owes Doug uncountable trillions... he should open a case.

Edited August 26, 2012 by happysanook

[givenall]

Apple claim the entire Android OS is pirated from them.

These days it is cheaper to sue than be creative and invent. When i was working for my big company the lawyers were telling us to patent everything not matter how ridicules it seems so they can use that later to sue thier compotator.

Edited August 26, 2012 by givenall

[Tywais]

Wonder how much Samsung is going to bump up the prices for their Retina display and A-series (A5X) processors for Apple to make up for the loss?

[JanKlaasen]

Wonder how much Samsung is going to bump up the prices for their Retina display and A-series (A5X) processors for Apple to make up for the loss?

Maybe they will say they just ran out of stock.

I know I would, if i was Samsung.

[Pattaya46]

Still, it doesnt change the fact that Samsung copied Apple. They had to pay something.

Still, it doesnt change the fact that IF Samsung copied Apple. They WOULD had to pay something.

No one can now make a IT device being rectangular with rounded corner!

Please be serious...

or new phones with sharp corners will cause a lot of accidents

But as all the press say all over the world:

How could we be surprise of this verdict from an American tribunal in California... not far from Apple headoffice !

A very bad joke, and all customers could be final victims of that.

All this jurist money could have be better used to develop new things or idea...

[lomatopo]

[lomatopo]

Nice bump for the stock, further bumps expected with the iPad 5 and miniPad announcements on Sep. 5.

http://www.dailytech...rticle25292.htm

http://www.dailytech...px?newsid=25329

[Phil Conners]

if you really want to get down to it, Palm is the originator for the entire smart device idea and Apple should be coughing up trillions.

Really?

Palm 1996

Newton 1993

It was really Doublas Adams...in Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy.....round 1979

I think Space Odyssey 2001 presented the first tablet back in 1968?

[harrry]

Come to think of it Moses was a pretty early player with his tablet written on by his finger.

[Thaddeus]

if you really want to get down to it, Palm is the originator for the entire smart device idea and Apple should be coughing up trillions.

Really?

Palm 1996

Newton 1993

It was really Doublas Adams...in Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy.....round 1979

I think Space Odyssey 2001 presented the first tablet back in 1968?

Given.

But prediction and production are not the same thing.

[TongueThaied]

Samsung is a rotten stinking company that gives not one whit about its customers. I cannot believe people keep buying their trash anyway. I have had "sorry no service for the beautiful products Samsung, but I'll never buy another one. Incidentally, the Samsung refrigerator has plastic shelves and all of them had cracked and broken. I thought it easy enough to get them replaced at the Samsung Service Center. But no, "Sorry, we don't make it for that model any more." Appropriately, I found suitable replacements in a junk shop!

One billion for Apple. Couldn't make me happier. Sam nam na, Samsung!

By the way you Galaxy owners. God help you if Samsung has to discontinue it. They will stop servicing it immediately and will no longer supply any parts for it. You'll have no option but to replace it, which was the only option for me when the touch screen of my 14 month old $400 YPP3 MP3 player stopped functioning.

Edited August 27, 2012 by TongueThaied

[KeyserSoze01]

if you really want to get down to it, Palm is the originator for the entire smart device idea and Apple should be coughing up trillions.

Really?

Palm 1996

Newton 1993

It was really Doublas Adams...in Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy.....round 1979

I think Space Odyssey 2001 presented the first tablet back in 1968?

The original Star Trek 1966. Along with the flip phone and tricorder.

[rogerdee123]

In news interviews with the jurors, part of the evidence included email messages between Samsung's top mgmt about copying the iPhone including photos of the before and after (IPhone release) copied Samsung phone. Also Apple offered to sell a license for the Apple patented tech assets to Samsung which would have saved Samsung from the 1 billion penalty but Samsung preferred to fight in court.

I can't help but think of Thailand, China and other Asian countries where copyrights and patents aren't respected when I try to imagine Samsung's mindset. IN this industry, everyone buys licenses from everyone else or they go to court. Microsoft, Google, and everyone including Samsung license from each other and sue each other. The only thing that makes this case different is Samsung's stubborness and the size of the damage. BTW ... the jurors say that Apple was asking for 2.5 billion compensation and the jurors awarded 1 billion. So it could have been even worse for Samsung and if they appeal this case again ... it could become even more expensive for them.

All these big companies have been responsible for stifling innovation and creativity to some extent or another. How many software companies has microsoft put out of business because they threatened to become competitors.

This is the reality. Samsung knows the rules. Looks to me like bad judgement and bad management at Samsung.

[TongueThaied]

Of course, as much as I would like to see it rammed into Samsung's nether parts and broken off, billion dollar judgments are seldom ever paid and appeals are profitable. Remember the EXXON Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989? I was a lawyer in Alaska then. Suits were filed, some were settled. The big judgment was for $5.287 billion and came in 1994. However, federal pre-judgment interest is only 5.9% and EXXON's return on assets over the last five years has ranged from 10% to 20%, or 2 to 4 times what it was faced with paying in pre-judgment interest! That, of course, kind of makes a joke of pre-judgment interest, which should be fairly set at the tortfeasor's ROA to take the profit out of delay. That means, every day EXXON can delay payment, the more money it makes. With big judgments, long appeals are profitable. But in addition, large jury awards are seldom upheld on appeal.

The case went up and down, with damages lowered, then raised again, up and down like a roller coaster, finally ending up at the Supreme Court which remanded to the Ninth Circuit in 2008 with an order that the judgment could not exceed $507.5 million! The Ninth Circuit decision was issued in 2009 for $507.5 million, and, finding no prevailing party, ordered each party to bear its own costs. Judge Kleinfeld, whom I know personally to be a pompous ass, wrote a dissenting opinion. He would have declared EXXON to be the prevailing party and ordered its litigation costs recovered from the plaintiffs, which would have wiped out the judgment completely! The Court ordered prejudgment interest on the $507 million.

EXXON did not want to pay the interest and announced it would again appeal. Then, in a surprise turnaround, it said it would pay. No surprise. I am sure its accountants decided that the ROA for the amount of the interest would be less than the litigation costs. All corporate decisions are based on profit. Even if EXXON had been required to paid the entire $5 billion, its ROA, using 15% for that 20 years of litigation, would have been $15 billion (without the compounding of interest that it would have enjoyed)! But it also had its judgment slashed to 1/10 the original size! This is typical. Litigation pays for the Big Boys.

So, don't feel too sorry for Samsung, their day of reckoning is a long way off. And look at all the help they will be providing with the university educations of their lawyers' children!

Appellate courts do not like big jury awards. When the people speak, the appellate courts don't listen. Ah, the U.S. a nation of law. Don't you just love it? I am constantly reminded of why I came here.

Edited August 27, 2012 by TongueThaied

[jay1980]

I cannot help feeling that despite winning this court case rightly or wrongly longer term this will be a massive own goal for Apple. Their clever marketing over many years has created an image of Apple being 'nice guys' versus faceless corporations such as Samsung, Sony, HTC etc.

This success of this 'nice guy' marketing was proved by when Steve Job's died people leaving flowers etc outside Apple stores. Can you imagine anyone leaving flowers outside a Samsung store if the CEO or Samsung died?

Now Apple seem to be putting themselves in danger of re-inventing themselves as corporate bullies and damaging a marketing advantage they have built up over many years and is worth more to them than $1 billion US in the longer term.

[DrTuner]

Now Apple seem to be putting themselves in danger of re-inventing themselves as corporate bullies and damaging a marketing advantage they have built up over many years and is worth more to them than $1 billion US in the longer term.

It's not a re-invention. Apple has employed an army of lawyers ever since Steve got back. I guess he still held a grudge to Bill and wanted to make sure no one was going to steal anything from him, while also protecting his own stolen bits&pieces from claims. The PR department has been very, very good in hiding these actions behind the hype.