Apple Vs. Samsung: Court Cases

INTRODUCTION

Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit began on April 15, 2011 when Apple filed an infringement case on Samsung for copying its technology and design. Apple filed a case in US District against Samsung for copying Apple’s Innovative technology, distinctive user interfaces and elegant and distinctive product and packaging design, in violation of apple’s valuable intellectual property rights. Apple initiated the fight and Samsung took it globally in Germany, USA, Japan, Australia, South Korea and European Union.

Apple and Samsung share a buyer-seller relationship with each other, Samsung being the world’s largest memory chip maker and Apple is the largest consumer of flash memory. Apple buys flash memory from Samsung for its iPhone and iPad.

Apple then added more claims, stating Samsung copied the “look and feel” of the Apple iOS range of devices, naming Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets. In two separate lawsuits, Apple accused Samsung of infringing on three utility patents (United States Patent Nos. 7,469,381, 7,844,915, and 7,864,163) and four design patents (United States Patent Nos. D504, 889, D593, 087, D618, 677, and D604, 305). Apple was seeking $2.5 billion in damages, and Samsung was also seeking financial restitution. Among the patents Apple accused Samsung of infringing upon is Design Patent US D504889, which is a single page document with nine accompanying images of an unnamed electronic device in the shape of a rounded rectangle. Countering to the lawsuit, Samsung alleged that Apple infringed number of patents of Samsung that deals with iPhone 3G. Samsung accused Apple of infringing on United States Patent Nos. 7,675,941, 7,447,516, 7,698,711, 7,577,460, and 7,456,893. One 2005 design patent at the heart of the dispute is the Design Patent 504,889, which consists of a one-sentence claim about the ornamental design of an electronic device, accompanied by nine figures depicting a thin rectangular cuboid with rounded corners.

On August 24, 2012, the first trial of the Apple vs. Samsung case took place. In the trial, the jury found that Samsung had wilfully infringed Apple’s design, patents and trade dresses. The verdict was given in favour of Apple. An amount of $1.049 billion was given to Apple in damages. On the other hand Samsung received zero damages for its counter suit. Samsung had infringed Apple’s patents on iPhone’s “Bounce-Back Effect”, “Tap to Zoom”, “On-screen Navigation”, “On-screen Icons” and design patents. The