Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) won a verdict against Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) related to infringements on three of its patent, but the victory will have little impact on the Korean firm or Android, says a report from the Wall Street Journal. Google’s Android, a major long-term threat to iOS, remains unaffected by the verdict given at a U.S District court in San Jose, California, on Friday.
Damage amount tiny for Samsung
The jury determined that Samsung has infringed on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s patent for “quick links,” a feature in Apple allowing user to dial a number given in an email, “slide to unlock” feature and “auto complete” patent. On Monday, the court will also look into whether or not it is necessary to charge additional damages from Samsung over “auto complete” patent.
According to analysts, most of the Samsung products that use these features are not on the shelf for sale any longer, and the Korean electronics giant will be careful enough not to include the features in upcoming phones. Financially also, Samsung is in a better condition as the compensation of $119 million in damages is just one-quarter of 1% of Samsung’s $47.56 billion in cash. Also, the amount is substantially less than the $930 million awarded to Apple in the previous trial.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) also received a blow from the jury of eight men and women, when it held that Apple has also infringed Samsung’s patent for organizing photos and videos folder awarding $158,400 in damages.
Google, the real winner not Apple
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) emerged as a real winner in this fight as Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) urged that Apple’s patent claims do not hold validity because Google has been working on a similar technology independently. Google engineers confirmed what Samsung has to say. In the first trial, Apple lawyers were successful in describing Samsung as a foreign company which is capitalizing on the innovations of a local company. However, Samsung now retaliated saying that Apple is not the only local innovator.
“The days of Apple hoping for a slam dunk or knockout win in the court system are behind us,” said Michael Carrier, a patent-law expert and law professor at Rutgers University. Mark McKenna, an expert on intellectual-property law and a law-school professor at the University of Notre Dame, also noted that one could not imagine Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) coming out from this case feeling like it had won a major victory.
