The verdict is out, with Apple winning a decisive victory (pending an appeal by Samsung of course. There is a full PDF copy of the verdict below. Here is what the webs has to say on the matter.
FossPatent on the verdict:
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Samsung will undoubtedly try to convince Judge Koh that the jury should be overruled, and I wouldn’t rule out minor adjustments by the judge, but all in all, this liability finding is going to stand and the appeals court will also treat it with significant deference. After Judge Koh’s order on Samsung’s motion to overrule the jury…..
Even if the court upheld all of the jury’s liability findings (not unlikely) and granted Apple injunctive relief against Samsung over all of them (not easy to achieve, but possible; a hearing has been set for September 20), and if such injunction was not stayed by the appeals court (a stay is possible but not a given), Samsung would not be forced out of the U.S. market as a result of this litigation. Samsung can and will design around Apple’s design patents, and it can and will have to work with Google to engineer around Apple’s software patents. Its products may, as a result, be less appealing, but they are still going to be marketable.
This ruling is not thermonuclear on its own, but in its aftermath, we will not only see a lot of wrangling over a judgment as a matter of law to overrule the jury and over injunctive relief but there will also be, even more importantly, a push by Apple to enforce many more design patents and utility (hardware and software) patents against Samsung. Since Samsung has been found to have infringed intentionally and recklessly (partly on its own, partly in conjunction with its “partner in crime”, Google), the United States District Court for the Northern District of California will adjudicate more of Apple’s asserted patents in the future.
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FossPatent on Preliminary Injunction:
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While Judge Koh said in court late on Friday that a preliminary injunction hearing could take place on September 20 (she couldn’t offer any earlier date), she later issued the following notice:
The Court is reconsidering the briefing and hearing schedules regarding Apple’s post-verdict preliminary injunction motion, the parties’ Rule 50 motions, and Apple’s enhancement motion. By Monday, August 27, 2012, Apple shall file a 1-page chart identifying both the products for which Apple is seeking preliminary injunctive relief and the liability finding(s) on which the request as to each product is based. No argument is permitted. Depending on the scope of Apple’s preliminary injunction request, the Court may continue [i.e., postpone] the briefing and hearing schedule on Apple’s preliminary injunction motion.
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AllthingsD on the verdict:
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If there’s one takeaway from Apple’s massive win over Samsung in the most-watched patent trial of the year, it’s this: If you copy our stuff, we’ll go after you.
That’s the message delivered alongside the verdict on Friday afternoon, in which the jury found Samsung guilty of infringing upon six out of the seven Apple patents in question. The result? More than$1 billion in damages awarded to Apple (or $1,049,343,540 if you want to get nitpicky about it), and of course, bragging rights in what has been Apple’s longstanding claim that Samsung devices were “slavishly copies” of Apple’s iPhone and iPad.
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9to5 Mac, Tim Cook’s letter to employee:
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Today was an important day for Apple and for innovators everywhere.
Many of you have been closely following the trial against Samsung in San Jose for the past few weeks. We chose legal action very reluctantly and only after repeatedly asking Samsung to stop copying our work. For us this lawsuit has always been about something much more important than patents or money. It’s about values. We value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on earth. And we do this to delight our customers, not for competitors to flagrantly copy.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the jury who invested their time in listening to our story. We were thrilled to finally have the opportunity to tell it. The mountain of evidence presented during the trial showed that Samsung’s copying went far deeper than we knew.
The jury has now spoken. We applaud them for finding Samsung’s behavior willful and for sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn’t right.
I am very proud of the work that each of you do.
Today, values have won and I hope the whole world listens.
Tim
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The Wall Street Journal, Samsung plans to appeal verdict:
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We will move immediately to file post-verdict motions to overturn this decision in this court and if we are not successful, we will appeal this decision to the Court of Appeals.
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.
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Sources: FossPatent, AllthingsD, 9to5 Mac
