Ina Fried

Recent Posts by Ina Fried

Apple: Samsung Case About More Than Money (But We’ll Take the Money)

Apple said Thursday it is pleased that a San Jose federal jury awarded it a further $290 million in damages, on top of more than $600 million awarded by a separate jury last year.

“For Apple, this case has always been about more than patents and money,” Apple said in a statement to AllThingsD. “It has been about innovation and the hard work that goes into inventing products that people love. While it’s impossible to put a price tag on those values, we are grateful to the jury for showing Samsung that copying has a cost.”

A Samsung representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday’s verdict.

Thursday’s $290 million verdict was the result of a partial retrial of last year’s landmark case in which a jury awarded more than $1 billion in damages. However, the judge in the case ruled that roughly $400 million of that amount was improperly calculated, necessitating the current retrial.

Lawyers for both sides are now reviewing the verdict to make sure the calculations are accurate, though both sides will doubtless be appealing this verdict as well as many other elements of the overall case. In addition, a second trial on a newer generation of Samsung products is scheduled for the same courtroom next year.

Update: The jury has now been dismissed, with the total due Apple from the two cases adding up to $929.83 million. No word on how much both sides have racked up in legal bills.

Update 2, 2:26 p.m. PT:
Samsung issued the following statement: “We are disappointed by today’s decision, which is based in large part on a patent that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has recently deemed invalid. While we move forward with our post-trial motions and appeals, we will continue to innovate with groundbreaking technologies and great products that are loved by our many customers all around the world.”


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Just as the atom bomb was the weapon that was supposed to render war obsolete, the Internet seems like capitalism’s ultimate feat of self-destructive genius, an economic doomsday device rendering it impossible for anyone to ever make a profit off anything again. It’s especially hopeless for those whose work is easily digitized and accessed free of charge.

— Author Tim Kreider on not getting paid for one’s work