Apple Scores $119.6M Judgment Against Samsung But Victory Appears to be a Loss

San Jose, California – Steven Jobs once uttered his contempt for Android-based phones claiming the OS by Google was an attempt to pirate the success of the iPhone.

He said he had access to Apple’s billions in cash reserves and would spend it to destroy the budding platform. Well, the lawsuit finally got underway roughly a year after Jobs passed away and culminated this week in a judgment in Apple’s favor for $119.6 million.

Specifically, Apple focused their legal power on Samsung who has emerged as the de facto face of Android phones. Had Apple won a judgment on all five patent infringements they alleged, they would be receiving $2 billion from Samsung plus have secured a ban of select models from being sold in US markets. Had that been the case, Apple would have squashed Samsung like a bug.

However, the jury gave Apple a partial victory by finding Samsung in violation of two Apple patents. If Samsung violated two Apple patents it isn’t a stretch of the imagination to believe that they weren’t in fact out to exploit Apple’s patents sans any licensing agreement.

However, these cases involve not only infringement, but proving that the infringements adversely affected consumer’s choice of Samsung over Apple. It is believed that the roughly $120 million award is a wash after Apple’s legal fees are paid. It also is obvious that Apple will not be able to defeat the Samsung Galaxy line of smartphones in the courtroom. They’ll need to out innovate the South Korean tech giant. Thus far, Samsung has gained the technological edge with Apple playing catch up. In many markets, it is now Android smartphones that are the best seller with the iPhone as the second top selling phone. It is unclear if Apple will be pursuing additional litigation against Android phones.

Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/03/us-apple-samsung-elec-idUSBREA410Z020140503