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Apple's $1,049,343,540 victory: Google, don't tread on me.
CNET looks at why the Android community should be a little more nervous after today's ruling.
Samsung Electronics isn't the only one stinging from today's overwhelming defeat at the hands of Apple; this is a massive blow to Google and Android too.
A San Jose, Calif., district court jury today awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages after it found Samsung had willfully copied the various design cues of the iPhone and iPad. In doing so, it just laid a smack-down on the entire Android community.
While the monetary damages are significant, they pale in comparison to the precedent set by this jury that Apple's design patents are valid and worth protection, giving it license to go after any company with a similar looking product. That's bad news for any company building an Android smartphone or tablet.
"This is a big loss for Google," said Roger Entner, an analyst at Recon Analytics. "There were actually two parties being sued by Apple. Google just wasn't named."
That Samsung will appeal the case is a virtual certainty, but that's beside the point. The decision will reverberate around the world, likely affecting the myriad of other cases being heard in multiple courts in different countries. Apple has another face-off against Samsung in an appeals case that more directly ties into Google and a patent over universal search, and Apple will be the one with momentum on its side.
So yes, the battle may rage on for another few years. But thanks to this decision, public perception will be on Apple's side. The decision was so lopsided that it has to make all of the other Android partners a bit nervous. While an appeal is an option, it doesn't look good.
"The verdict is certainly indicative of what could happen in future cases," said Brian Love, a law professor at Santa Clara University. "And certainly this is something that lawyers and managers of other Android partners are considering. They have to think about what their chances are for success now."
Samsung decried the ruling, warning it would hurt consumers.
"Today's verdict should not be viewed as a win for Apple, but as a loss for the American consumer," Samsung said in a statement. "It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices."
It also vowed to keep fighting.
CNET also contacted Google for comment, and we'll update the story when the company responds.
Even as the legal machinations roll on, Android players may indeed start lining up to strike licensing deals with Apple.
Do any of them want to subject themselves to the kind of circus that Samsung has had to deal with? Samsung spent the last few weeks revealing all kinds of juicy details and pouring resources into a legal strategy that ultimately was fruitless.
Samsung is by far the strongest Android player, and had the resources to mount the best possible legal campaign. In addition, Google had been quietly providing its own support.
But if all of that wasn't enough, what chance does HTC or LG have if Apple were to begin looking elsewhere? HTC is already smarting from a loss with at the U.S. International Trade Commission, and isn't relishing another legal clash against Apple.
Another issue: Samsung's patents, which are essential to wireless standards and a core part of its defense, did little to sway the jurors. That's bad news for a lot of the major players, particularly Google, which spent $12.5 billion to buy Motorola Mobility in large part because of the exhaustive portfolio of patents in its arsenal -- many of which are related to essential wireless technology. Google is still poring through those patents now.
Apple, meanwhile, just won on several patents critical to the smartphone experience, from the "rubber band" effect that comes from scrolling down a screen to the pinch-and-zoom function on pictures, that it can now go out and enforce against the entire industry.
With many Android users already paying a license fee to Microsoft, and now needing to pay an additional fee to Apple, Google's free operating system isn't as free as it used to be.
"Google distributes Android for free, but the IP licensing costs -- from Apple lawsuits and Microsoft's successful IP licensing business -- are getting quite expensive," said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis.
Well, there's always Microsoft and Windows Phone.
how is it embarrassing for Apple?Stephon. wrote:Its embarrassing for apple whether they won or not lol
Stephon. wrote:Its embarrassing for apple whether they won or not lol
ZeroOne wrote:Heard Protex change the shape of their soap
the consumer wins when companies innovate and there is price and product competition between these different innovations.noshownogo wrote:Patent wars is a business in itself. I'm personally tired of all this court fighting. Does the consumer really win with a decision going either way?
Cid wrote:if the courts ruled this way then certainly android should win a case for the notification bar that the ipad and iphone now use .....android had this from ever since....
Duane 3NE 2NR wrote:the consumer wins when companies innovate and there is price and product competition between these different innovations.noshownogo wrote:Patent wars is a business in itself. I'm personally tired of all this court fighting. Does the consumer really win with a decision going either way?
the consumer does not win when one company innovates and everyone else copies the same ideas and sells it under a different brand - that is not competition.
That is why the courts ruled the way they did.
SEOUL: Apple and Samsung Electronics must stop selling some smartphones and tablet computers in South Korea and pay damages after a Seoul court ruled they infringed on each other's patents.
Apple, maker of the iPhone, violated two Samsung patents related to mobile-data transfer technologies, the Seoul Central District Court said. Samsung, the world's largest mobile-phone maker, infringed one Apple patent related to a "bounce- back- touchscreen feature, though the Suwon, South Korea-based company didn't copy the design of the iPhone, the court said.
The sales bans don't cover Apple's iPhone 4S, its newest iPad, or Samsung's latest products including the Galaxy S III phone, all of which were released after the lawsuits were filed. The companies have sued each other on four continents since April, accusing each other of copying products, design and technology as they battle for dominance of a smartphone market estimated by Bloomberg Industries to be worth $219 billion.
"The ruling is in line with what we had expected,- Im Jeong Jae, a Seoul-based fund manager at Shinhan BNP Paribas Asset Management, which oversees about $29 billion, said by phone yesterday. "What's important is how the verdict that's coming out soon in the US will affect other pending cases in places like Europe and Australia.-
Shares of Samsung fell 0.9 per cent to 1.275 million won at the close of Seoul trading. Apple slipped 0.5 per cent to the equivalent of $662.04 at 12:34pm in Frankfurt. Nokia, which lost its position as the largest maker of mobile phones to Samsung this year, climbed 2.3 per cent to 2.45 euros on the Helsinki exchange.
"We welcome today's ruling, which affirms our position that Apple has been using our mobile telecommunications standards patents without having obtained the necessary licences,- Samsung said in a statement. "Today's ruling also affirmed our position that one single company cannot monopolise generic design features.-
Three phone calls to Steve Park, a Seoul-based spokesman for Apple, went unanswered.
Under the ruling, Apple must stop selling the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad 1 and iPad 2 in South Korea, while Samsung must stop selling 12 products including the Galaxy S, Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab. Cupertino, California-based Apple must pay Samsung 40 million won ($35,000), and the Korean company must pay its US rival 25 million won.
The sales bans take effect immediately, though the companies can ask the court to rescind them. "These products all came out a while ago, so the actual impact won't be big,- Kim Hyung Sik, a Seoul-based analyst at Taurus Investment Securities, said by phone. "The US case is the important one. Even a neutral verdict there would be a victory for Samsung.-
Samsung generated 39 per cent of revenue in South Korea in the quarter ended June 30, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Apple, the world's most valuable company, got 23 per cent of its sales in the Asia-Pacific region in the same period.
Samsung and Apple, the world's two largest smartphone makers, are battling each other in courts even as they are bound by commercial deals involving components supply. In the last quarter, the South Korean company controlled about 35 per cent of the global smartphone market, followed by Apple with about 18 per cent, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics.
The two companies began a jury trial in US federal court in San Jose, California, on July 30 to try Apple's claims that Samsung copied its iPad and iPhone designs and Samsung's counterclaims that it's the victim of patent infringement by the US competitor. The case is the first US jury trial in the dispute.
Yesterday's ruling in Seoul "will have little impact on other cases, especially the US case,- said Mark Newman, a senior research analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in Hong Kong.
In the US trial, Apple is seeking $2.5 billion to $2.75 billion in damages for its claims that Samsung infringed four design patents and three software patents in copying the iPhone and iPad. Apple also wants to make permanent a preliminary ban it won on US sales of a Samsung tablet computer and extend the ban to the South Korean company's smartphones.
Samsung is seeking as much as $421.8 million in royalties that the company claims it's owed for Apple's infringement of two patents covering mobile-technology standards and three utility patents.
Apple never claimed to invent touch screen. There was touch screen on other devices long before. The multi-touch was not invented by Apple either but they legally bought the rights to use it and were the first to do so at such a commercial level.EFFECTIC DESIGNS wrote:We still must give credit to Apple. The iphone was a genius invention even though it was ripped off the HTC touch screen PDA invented back in the 90's. Apple didn't invent these touch screen devices.
the term is "couldn't care less" BTW. If you could care less then it means that you do care someEFFECTIC DESIGNS wrote: they could care less about that loss.
Cid wrote:if the courts ruled this way then certainly android should win a case for the notification bar that the ipad and iphone now use .....android had this from ever since....
Strauss wrote:
I was skeptical about Apple winning at first, but after they presented Samsung's internal documents and Google's correspondence with Samsung, there was no doubt that Apple would come out on top.
Duane 3NE 2NR wrote:the consumer wins when companies innovate and there is price and product competition between these different innovations.noshownogo wrote:Patent wars is a business in itself. I'm personally tired of all this court fighting. Does the consumer really win with a decision going either way?
the consumer does not win when one company innovates and everyone else copies the same ideas and sells it under a different brand - that is not competition.
That is why the courts ruled the way they did.
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