The final word of Apple v. Samsung, the full story

Looks the same to me…. /s

What. The. Fuck. That’s all I can say right now, not only as an Android fanatic but as a general consumer as well. As we all know for the past several weeks/months Apple and Samsung have been in court trying to see if Apple really did indeed create the rectangle. Seriously, Apple has been suing Samsung for many patent infringements that they feel entitled to.

Again this has been going on for a while,  so long in fact, that several judges have said that this case and the patent system in general (especially in the technology field) is so messed up at the moment. Yet, Apple persisted and Samsung never backed down from retaliating, finally leading to today where the judge and jury have said their final words.

Samsung is guilty, Apple is not.

Samsung was found to be deliberately  infringing on several MANYof Apple’s device patents — the jury read from a 700 question questionnaire concerning all of the patent breaching. In the end Samsung was totally to blame, while Apple got off scott-free. Samsung also has to pay Apple $1,049,343,540.00, in case that too many number that’s over 1 BILLION dollars. Luckily, none of Samsung’s products have been banned in the US. Although, with a billion dollar dent in their account, we know Samsung will be heavily pushing some phone’s over the next few months.

After receiving the court’s verdict, Sammy had this to say:

Today’s verdict should not be viewed as a win for Apple, but as a loss for the American consumer. It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices. It is unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners, or technology that is being improved every day by Samsung and other companies. Consumers have the right to choices, and they know what they are buying when they purchase Samsung products. This is not the final word in this case or in battles being waged in courts and tribunals around the world, some of which have already rejected many of Apple’s claims. Samsung will continue to innovate and offer choices for the consumer.

Apple, of course, couldn’t receive a win without saying something to the public, and here’s their statement.

We are grateful to the jury for their service and for investing the time to listen to our story and we were thrilled to be able to finally tell it. The mountain of evidence presented during the trail showed that Samsung’s copying went far deeper than even we knew. The lawsuits between Apple and Samsung were about much more than patents or money. They were about values. At Apple, we value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on earth. We make these products to delight our customers, not for our competitors to flagrantly copy. We applaud the court for finding Samsung’s behavior willful and for sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn’t right.

So what does this mean for the future of Samsung and their devices? Well, they’re going to need to change their software (the parts that imposed on Apple’s patents) around a bit (read: a TON) and definitely look at a new model for TouchWiz — unless they want to be back in court. Sammy can’t even realy appeal the decision. Technically they can, but that fight may even be harder than this original case.

Personally seeing as this court order didn’t remove devices, and can be viewed as a huge eye-opener for Samsung, I don’t feel as this will hurt innovation in a grand way. This verdict will cause Samsung to think even more outside the box, while Apple stays content with its perfect rectangular phones. Even still, this is a blow, no matter how you look at it, for the manufacturer. Let’s just hope they bounce back quickly and don’t ruin what they had/have going for them.

How do you all feel about this decision, besides “Apple is a bunch of fuckers who can go to hell with their stupid maxiPads and dumbiPhones that won’t poke their eyes out…” ?

Damn…

[Appeals]

So we have recently found out that Samsung is now appealing the courts decision. I hope they win the appeals and are able to overturn the decision, but honestly the guys at Android Police have explain why the likelihood of that is really low. check out their explanation.

As for the whole appeals thing? Don’t let anyone tell you that “the verdict doesn’t matter.” They’re wrong. The verdict matters hugely. The jury decided that Samsung infringed and diluted, and those are findings of fact. An appeals court cannot overturn findings of fact unless “no reasonable jury” could have arrived at those conclusions. I’ll tell you right now: that’s not going to happen (it is exceedingly rare).

What Samsung can appeal are matters of law. These include findings on the validity of patents and protectability (like validity) of trade dress. Samsung will certainly appeal these issues, but the jury already decided that Apple’s patents were valid, and its trade dress protectable. Appellate judges are rarely keen to argue with a jury’s findings. And frankly, don’t get your hopes up here, either, especially on the patents. Apple’s D’677 patent has already survived the scrutiny of Judge Koh as having no “reasonable likelihood” of invalidity.

Samsung can also appeal some issues related to damages (such as how they’re calculated), but that’s getting into a fairly complex area of the law. As for excluded evidence, Samsung can appeal Judge Koh’s refusal to include testimony or evidence, but that is decided as a matter of abuse of judicial discretion – an extremely high bar to meet. Samsung would have to prove Judge Koh failed in her duties as a judge, and that no reasonable judge could have come to the decision she did. Much like invalidating a jury verdict, this is a long-shot at best.

Suffice to say, Samsung’s appeals docket will probably be pretty long. How much good will it do? Considering the parties haven’t settled by now (and Samsung won on zero counts), it’s unlikely Apple will be interested in compromising in exchange for Samsung foregoing an appeal. At this point, they’re in it to hurt Samsung, as they’ve made clear.

Via: The Verge; Android Police