Samsung and Apple have finally ended their seven-year-long Patent infringement conflict in Northern District Court of California yesterday. Judge Lucy Koh said that both the companies have reached for a settlement, the terms of which haven’t disclosed yet.
The dispute battle started in 2011 where Apple accused Samsung of copying iPhone design and software features. Later in 2012 Court ordered Samsung to pay an amount of $1 billion to Apple over copying hardware and software features of iPhone and iPad, after some time a federal judge reduce the penalty by $450 million. But according to the recent reports, the jury give Apple $539 million in May which left Samsung with $140 million that it owed to Apple.
The patent dispute is about designs and utility patent to operate some basic functions of a smartphone, like home screen app grid and tap to zoom. With the passage of time, the fight becomes more about whether Samsung copied Apple features and designs to gain popularity in early days of smartphone technology. Though the jury conclude Samsung company had done it.
Apple made a statement in May on the hearing of the case:
“This case has always been about more than money, Apple ignited the smartphone revolution with iPhone and it is a fact that Samsung blatantly copied our design. It is important that we continue to protect the hard work and innovation of so many people at Apple.”
On the other side, Samsung declined to comment.
Moreover, after so many years the case is finally going to close now and nobody knows the reason why all of a sudden they are ending this dispute, plus the amount of money given to Apple has never discussed.
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Michael Risch, a patent law professor at Villanova University said, “One lesson is consumers will drive tech more than patents. Samsung went where it thought consumers wanted … and Apple stayed with its distinctive smaller shape for a much longer period than Samsung, Sometimes patent can drive innovation in ways we may not have expected.”
previously, the two companies had some issues over violation and were also involved in patent disputes on an international level, but they decided to drop those cases in 2014. For now, the extreme seven-year-long battle is finally and officially over between two tech giants.
