from the get-your-round-corners-here,-going-cheap! dept.
Supreme court unanimously rules on design patent, first time in over 100 years.
Samsung walks away with a win from a unanimous ruling from the supreme court about the ongoing design suite initiated by Apple back in 2012. The case goes back to the lower courts to determine the damages of the infringement on design only, not the entirety of the product. Hopefully this will bring some sanity to the patent wars and reduce the $399 million award to Apple.
"Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that damages could be calculated based on the entire profit of an infringing product or based on only part of the product's profit."
"...or based on only part of the product's profit." is the significant part of the judgement.
https://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-apple-scores-supreme-court-win-patent-design-infringement-case/
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/06/504545297/supreme-court-sides-with-samsung-against-apple-in-patent-infringement-fight
http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/6/13854354/apple-samsung-patent-battle-supreme-court-damages-calculation
And from the LA Times we get:
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled for Samsung in its patent dispute with Apple and set aside a $400-million damages verdict for copying the look of the iPhone.
The justices dealt only with the question of how much the South Korean firm should pay for copying several design features of Apple's smartphone.
A jury had found that Samsung copied several features of Apple's patented design, and a judge said the South Korean firm should pay out its "entire profit" from the sale of its smartphones.
Those damages of $399 million were upheld by a federal appeals court, but they were set aside by the high court in an 8-0 decision Tuesday.
Related Stories
Apple, Samsung Resolve Smartphone Design Fight After 7 Years
Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. reached a settlement in their U.S. patent battle, ending a seven-year fight over smartphone designs that spanned the globe.
The string of lawsuits started in 2011 after Steve Jobs, Apple's co-founder who died that year, threatened to go "thermonuclear" on rivals that used the Android operating system and accused Samsung of "slavishly" copying the iPhone design. The companies didn't disclose the terms of the accord and didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
The ensuing litigation cost each company hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees and tested their reputations as innovators. Wednesday's settlement resolved the last outstanding dispute.
"The sumo wrestlers have tired of the wrestling match," said Paul Berghoff, a patent lawyer with McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff in Chicago who followed the cases over the years. "They both were tired and happy to stop paying the outside lawyers. We may never know who blinked first, who made the call."
Also at Axios.
Previously: Apple Wants to Ban Samsung Products - Again!
Four years later, Rounded Corners are Fair Game
Apple Wants Samsung to Cough Up $180M More in Patent Dispute
Supreme Court Says Samsung Doesn't Owe Apple $400 Million in Damages for Copying iPhone Look
Apple v. Samsung Proceeds to Fourth Jury Trial
Apple And Samsung Face Off In Court Over Design Patents Once Again
(Score: 3, Touché) by BK on Wednesday December 07 2016, @02:36AM
It's always thrilling when the goalie makes a save from way out of position. I'm talking about in hockey of course since the other sports I know with goalies are boring as all f*ck.
It's also nice to see the Court hand down an unanimous decision instead of the usual partisan baloney. It looks like this means that both sides will pay more in legal costs than either will pay in damages. I said when this case was announced that I hoped that both could lose. This is probably as close as it comes...
If only there was some way [wikipedia.org] to end the damage done by lawyers on all of society.
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 07 2016, @03:01AM
Yes. Its amazing how bipartisian they can be when suing a foreign company on behalf of a US one. Guess all is right with the world then....
Jokes on you though: Regardless of what happens the money ends up overseas without tax paid.
Suckers!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 07 2016, @07:07AM
Think the 'all profits' is for the cases where you could mistake one product for another. I do not think most people would confuse an iphone for a galaxy. There probably are a few but they would be rare.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 07 2016, @02:44AM
How many of the SCOTUS justices turn on the TV and chant U-S-A! when we're playing some other country in soccer or hoops?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 07 2016, @08:18AM
Why. Just, why.