Samsung’s Patent Loss to Apple Is Appealed to Supreme Court

Samsung has been battling the patent infringement charges brought by Apple for years. Just few weeks ago it lost the patent battle in Federal District Court and it agreed to pay whopping $548 million in damages to Apple. But this wasn’t end for the road for Samsung as it has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court where it seeks rekindle the clash with an aim of getting better of Apple. The South Korean electronics giant Samsung is arguing that the legal framework which are utilized in the design patents are outdated for the current modern digital world. The legal framework for design patents is sitting right at the center of the suits provided in the software by both the companies.

How detrimental is the patent battle for both the companies? 

Though Samsung is just appealing to get its case heard in Supreme Court but if heard this can have far reaching implication for design patents, product looks and the financial penalties which are allowed under law. Design patents play a vital role in the software designed by the companies and apart from providing utility it also covers how a product functions and looks.

As per Samsung the legal framework for design patents is shaped as per the 19th century laws which were introduced to protect the designs of carpers, ornamental spoons and fireplace grates. In short it isn’t applicable or can justify or bring justice to the modern electronic device sin the same manner when patent battle is being heard.

Age old laws to judge modern complex electronic device

In the old times the design was seen as the heart of those products and seizing those designs to bring copycat products brought gains which were known as total profit rule and it was justified. But in the modern times complex products like Smartphone comes loaded with a dense bundle of intellectual property comprising of more than 100,000 patents which lays claim to every small aspect of the phone. A law professor at Stanford University named Mark A. Lemley stated that the law was written in the primitive age before the invention of smartphone which means it won’t be able to be fair with both the companies.

Apple has an upper hand in patent battle

Apple had simply publicly declined to comment on the Samsung appeal in Supreme Court. But over all these years Apple has maintained that the three major design patents infringed by Samsung represents the sense of its iPhone. Apple argues that Samsung is simply taken over its user interface, rectangular display and the rounded shape and the flat front which has become synonym for iPhone design. Even the jury at the Federal District Court agreed with the Apple view and defense.

Samsung gets huge support from the fellow technology companies which include Google, eBay and Facebook. They believe that if the ruling against Samsung in this patent case is left to stand then it will lead to absurd results and can have devastating impact on the companies.

Apple VS Samsung: An End of the Never Ending War

The never resolving issue between the Smartphone giants Apple Inc. and Samsung electronics comes to a final closurewhere both the companies decide to give a rest to all the charges against each other in the countries outside US. What seemed to be a far-fetched idea that these litigations will continue was resolved much quicker that it was anticipated. This will bring peace in the economy of the countries like Australia, France, Japan, Italy, South Korea, Netherlands and United Kingdom.

Issues leading to the Dispute: 

The beginning of the economic dispute was started back in 2011 between the millionaire companies Apple Inc. and Samsung, when both the companies started accusing and backstabbing each other for their technologies being used. There might be various reasons behind it, but the major premonitions were the copying of each other’s technologies without permission. Apple blamed Samsung for the use of their iPhone design while Samsung blamed Apple for using their wireless-transmission technology and the camera’s system design.

The dispute intensified to a global scale when Apple blamed Samsung – the Korean electronics giants have copied certain features, thereby producing damage for them worth estimated to be $1 billion.
Apple Inc. and Samsung are holding the flags of the Smartphone market and they have tried to block each other’s sales in different countries in the past years, an unfair mean to gain popularity, and trying to be the dominated leader in the revolutionized electronics market.

The Rise and Downfall of Economy of the Giants: 

Both the giants Apple and Samsung in order to glorify the dispute have drained millions of dollars to raise a battalion of lawyers to commence the proceedings of the cases. This has caused a huge economic shortfall in the countries like UK, Netherlands, and France etc. where the disputes have been put to an end.

Sparks started in the federal court in San Jose, California where Apple won victories in two verdicts worth $930 million in 2012 and $120 million in 2014.However, the last trial was embarrassing for Apple since they received far less than they expected.

Economists and Lawyers find the situation deeply intriguing. Law professor of Villanova University, Pennsylvania Michael Risch considers the situation to be just a precursor of the commencement of the next skirmish. He considers that the end of litigations is just a pause of the law battles.

Business Breakdown of the Giants: 

Samsung targeted for the economically backward countries so as to gain maximum profit of their inputs. Samsung shipped 74.5 million smartphones in the 2nd quarter of the previous year thereby claiming 25% of the market share. Apple however shipped only 35.2 million smartphones thus claimed only 12% of the market shares. This huge setback for Apple made it furious enough to sue a charge against Samsung.

However, both the firms have dropped their charges against each other in May 2014 to stop the patent-infringement dispute. But they didn’t agree to cross-license each other’s patent. Rockstar Consortium backed Apple while Google, HTC, Morotola backed Samsung in the case of infringement of Android-related patent products.

The final verdict was passed on 6th August 2014 and both the Smartphone giants Apple Inc. and Samsung close their dispute outside USA.

The Samsung-Apple trial seen by Conan O'Brien

The lawsuit between Apple and Samsung is continuing to court, and during that time, the bloom on the Internet parodies. The American media have obviously studied the subject, and among them, the American humorist Conan O'Brien has devoted part of his show on the case between the two companies.