Samsung Wins Supreme Court Fight Against Apple: Court Backs South Korean Giant In Design Copy Controversy

And the verdict is out. Following a long drawn legal battle, Samsung has won the Supreme Court fight against Apple! Apple and Samsung had locked horns over this legal issue since quite some time. Apple had alleged against the South Korean company that they had copied key designs of the iPhone for their flagship Galaxy models.

On December 6, U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favour of Samsung in a highly controversial patent fight with American rival, Apple. The Supreme Court dismissed a previous appeals court ruling that directed Samsung to pay a whopping $399 million penalty to Apple.

The ruling was 8-0, majority in favour of Samsung that helped them win the Supreme Court Fight against Apple.This unanimous decision held that a person/company which violates an existing patent does not need to divide its entire profits coming from the sale of products with stolen designs. Basically, Samsung is not liable to give its profits, that it earned using the stolen designs, to Apple. This is because the stolen designs only covered some aspects of the final product- not the entire product itself.

However, this does not mean that the Supreme Court thinks that Samsung has to pay nothing to Apple at all. They have sent the case back to U.S. Court of Appeals (Federal circuit in Washington). They have asked the Appeals court to decide the compensation payable by Samsung. This was an opportunity for the Supreme Court to provide directions or guidelines over such intellectual property disputes. These disputes include copyright violations, patent and design violations and even geographical marks!

Apple spokesperson, John Rosentock is hopeful about the compensation amount and is "optimistic that the lower courts will again send a powerful signal that stealing isn't right." Samsung told Reuters in a statement the ruling was a "victory for Samsung and for all those who promote creativity, innovation and fair competition in the marketplace."

The previous 2012 decision had favoured Apple and Samsung had to pay them over $930 million in penalty. However, the amount was revised to $382. The suit was brought against Samsung because they allegedly infringed iPhone's patents and copied its designs in Galaxy phones.

Samsung paid $548 million to Apple in December 2015 but also appealed to the Supreme Court. They believed that $399 should not be given as penalty for just copying some aspects. This legal battle is one of the most important patent cases in the history of intellectual property. A patent fight hardly ever gets appealed to the Supreme Court. This case has been heard in the top court after 120 years.

What is your opinion about this Samsung win in the Supreme Court against Apple? Do you agree with U.S. Supreme Court?

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