Apple sued Samsung in the US, Korea and Japan for violating their patents. Some of them include the basic shape of a rectangle with rounded corners. Strange that a patent was actually issued for that.
In the US, Apple won US$1 billion in damages and seek to ban 8 and later 3 more devices from US market.
In Korea, Apple was found to infringe on two of Samsung’s patents and Samsung one.
SEOUL—A South Korea court on Friday delivered a split decision in its piece of the global legal battle between Apple Inc. AAPL +0.21% and Samsung Electronics Co. 005930.SE +1.48% over mobile computing patents.
A three-judge panel in Seoul Central District Court said Apple infringed two Samsung technology patents, while Samsung violated one of Apple’s patents. The court awarded small damages to both companies and said they must halt sales of the infringing products in South Korea.
None of the banned products are the latest models of Samsung or Apple devices.
The court also ruled that there was “no possibility” that consumers would confuse Samsung and Apple smartphones, and that Samsung’s smartphone icons don’t infringe Apple’s patents.
Details here link
In Japan, Apple lost.
Apple Inc. lost a patent lawsuit in Japan as a Tokyo judge ruled that Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) smartphones and a tablet computer didn’t infringe on an Apple invention for synchronizing music and video data with servers.
Apple was ordered by Tokyo District Judge Tamotsu Shoji today to pay costs of the lawsuit after his verdict, the latest decision in a global dispute between the technology giants over patents used in mobile devices. Samsung shares rose, erasing earlier losses.
“It’s hard to believe the products belong to the range of technologies of the claimant,” Shoji said in dismissing Apple’s case.
Details here
What does it mean for the consumer? If you are living in the US, you might want to start buying a Samsung Galaxy SIII, since it is like an iPhone and cheaper!!
If you are in Singapore, there is no impact as the market here is too small to affect anything. Unless somehow the freely available unlocked phones were to tip the scales. (IDA requires all mobile phones sold in Singapore to unlocked and not tie to any carrier.)
RF stock picture from fotosearch.com