In case you’ve missed it this afternoon, the jury handed down a verdict in the Apple vs. Samsung trial. Samsung was found guilty of infringing on a number of Apple’s feature and design patents, and has been asked to pay over $1 billion in damages.
Apple, on the other hand, was cleared of all of Samsung’s infringement charges, and won’t be forced to pay any kind of settlement. And now that both companies have had a chance to review the jury’s decisions, they’ve released their statements…
Here’s Apple’s statement, courtesy of The New York Times:
“We are grateful to the jury for their service and for investing the time to listen to our story and we were thrilled to be able to finally tell it. The mountain of evidence presented during the trial showed that Samsung’s copying went far deeper than even we knew. The lawsuits between Apple and Samsung were about much more than patents or money. They were about values. At Apple, we value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on earth. We make these products to delight our customers, not for our competitors to flagrantly copy. We applaud the court for finding Samsung’s behavior willful and for sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn’t right.”
Samsung, as you can imagine, is much less thrilled with the verdict:
“Today’s verdict should not be viewed as a win for Apple, but as a loss for the American consumer. It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices. 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. Consumers have the right to choices, and they know what they are buying when they purchase Samsung products. This is not the final word in this case or in battles being waged in courts and tribunals around the world, some of which have already rejected many of Apple’s claims. Samsung will continue to innovate and offer choices for the consumer.”
Samsung’s right, this isn’t the final word in this case. The company will likely file a motion to appeal, and while it’s going to be extremely difficult to overturn a verdict like this, it could keep the case tied up in the court system for months, if not longer.
Nevertheless, this is still a huge victory for Apple. Expect to see it followed up with calls for sales bans on all of Samsung’s infringing products, and expect too see this ruling leveraged in other patent wars Apple is entangled in.