14 DAY TRIAL // Apple and Samsung have been at each other’s throats legally ever since 2011 and the patent wars between them seem to be ranging on into 2015.
A new report coming out of Inside Sources gives us the latest scoop on the ongoing legal litigation between the two companies.
It seems that some of Silicon Valley’s top companies, including Google, Facebook, HP, Dell and others, have teamed up and filed a “friend of the court” briefing on July 1, as a protest against the court’s decision against Samsung.
Originally, Apple accused Samsung of patent infringements, pointing out that the Korean tech giant copied key features of Cupertino’s iconic iPhone, such as its rounded corners, multi-touch gestures, and top-to-zoom function.
The court's anti-Samsung vote affects everyone
But the Silicon Valley companies worry that the court’s decision against Samsung might have immense repercussions on the rest of the tech world. In the “friend of the court” briefing, it is stated that the decision would “lead to absurd results and have a devastating impact on companies who spend billions of dollars annually on research and development for complex technologies and their components.”
The petition argues that technology is a very complex affair, so devices are made up of numerous components that can be found in different types of products. Therefore, if the use of these components can be considered the basis of a lawsuit, most companies out there could be accused of patent infringement.
The Silicon Valley coalition is concerned that the same thing might apply to software products and online platforms.
“A feature - a result of a few lines out of millions of code - may appear only during a particular use of a product, on one screen display among hundreds. But the panel’s decision could allow the owner of the design patent to receive all profits generated by the product or platform, even if the infringement was largely insignificant to the user,” the involved companies say.
For those out of the loop, Samsung was ordered by the court to turn over the total profits generated by its Galaxy devices that supposedly infringed on Apple’s IPs. Everything was worth almost $1 / €0.92 billion.
However, earlier this year, the Court of Appeals conceded to lower the amount to $548 / €506 million, but the Korean tech giant is still not happy with the decision and wants to see it get annulled altogether.