By Christina Bonnington August 24, 2012 | 10:05 pm |
Like Samsung, other handset makers with iPhone
lookalikes may find themselves ensnared in litigation with Apple.
Image: Jon
Snyder/Wired
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA — The jury in the landmark intellectual property case
Apple v. Samsung ruled overwhelmingly in favor of Apple on Friday,
awarding the iPhone maker approximately
$1.05 billion in damages. Although that figure is impressive on its own, the
jury’s Apple-friendly design and utility patent rulings could have an even
larger effect on the mobile industry and the world’s consumers. That means
you.
Samsung was quick to issue a comment to that effect. “Today’s verdict should
not be viewed as a win for Apple, but as a loss for the American consumer,”
Samsung said in an
official statement. “It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and
potentially higher prices.”
Indeed, since the jury deemed Apple’s iPhone-related design patents and user
interface patents infringed across such a wide spectrum of products, other
handset makers — Android manufacturers, in particular — may find themselves in
Apple’s sights for future patent litigation.
“The result will likely be an increase in costs to Android users because of
licensing fees to Apple,” Houston-based intellectual property lawyer Steve Mitby
told Wired. In layman’s terms: expect Android phones to cost more. “This will
drive many Android consumers over to Apple. Next to Samsung, the biggest loser
today is Google.”
Android handset makers could also find themselves having a difficult time
designing around some of these patent claims. But as Apple’s
closing arguments showed, it’s not impossible: products like the Nokia Lumia
and Xperia Arc S were cited as models of functional alternative designs to that
of the iPhone. Perhaps we could even be pleasantly surprised by the influx of
diversity to the smartphone space. But unfortunately, you can’t really “force”
invention.
“Big leaps forward are rare; most innovation occurs in increments,” Indiana
University law professor and author of Illuminating Innovation: From Patent
Racing to Patent War Lea Shaver told Wired via email. “Allowing companies
to take a good product and make it better and cheaper is good for consumers. But
the patent lawyers won today.”
That said, many of the UI features that were found to violate Apple patents
have since been adjusted in more recent updates of Samsung’s user interface, and
in Android. That’s part of why the jurors were asked not to update the devices
used in evidence. Android users don’t need to worry about, say, their phones
suddenly failing to work properly or powering up with a completely redesigned UI
update.
Samsung will almost certainly appeal the jury’s decision in the case to the
Federal Circuit, the Washington, DC-based appeals court that hears IP-related
appeals. “The Federal Circuit has a history of scaling back big damages awards,
which may spell trouble for Apple’s $1 billion in past damages,” Mitby
said. ”However, on the core issues of infringement and validity, the Federal
Circuit is less likely to reverse. So even if Samsung is able to reduce the
monetary award, the jury’s decision spells trouble for the future of Samsung’s
product line –- which is an even bigger financial issue for Samsung.”
And that’s not all. Apple plans to file a temporary injunction against
Samsung’s infringing products. If granted, Apple could ban its key competitor
from the market for months, if not years. In that instance, it would be far
cheaper, and far wiser, for Samsung to continue pouring money into its
attorneys’ pockets in an effort to overturn the ruling as soon as possible,
rather than write a billion dollar paycheck to Apple and lose out on millions in
sales of flagship products. But the whole process — appeals, injunctions — will
move slowly, so don’t expect Samsung products to disappear from store shelves
overnight.
“The court is going to be busy with this post-trial discussion and various
motions for weeks, maybe longer,” Shaver said. Samsung then gets 30 days to file
an appeal, and it will probably use all of that time. “Appellate courts work
slowly… Just to hear from the Federal Circuit could take a year and a half. This
is a case it would not surprise me if the Supreme Court takes, so there may not
be a truly final decision for years.”
Curiously, the jury didn’t find any design infringement on Samsung’s Galaxy
Tab products, so all those iPad copycats you see cropping up are safe (for
now).
Regardless, today’s decision is a resounding win for everyone on team
Apple.
“The lawsuits between Apple and Samsung were about much more than patents or
money. They were about values,” Apple spokesperson Katie Cotton told the New
York Times. “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.”
Unfortunately, consumers will begin inadvertently paying the bill for
upholding these values at some point. “When companies turn to litigation rather
than innovation, consumers lose,” Shaver said.
