Apple and Samsung have been going through legal battles for years now and at least one of them has just reached its endpoint. Back in March of last year, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) announced they would review part of the patent dispute between Apple and Samsung. While they sided with Samsung on a different case in December 2016, it seems that they went the opposite direction with the patent case over features including slide-to-unlock, autocorrect and quick links, which automatically turns information like addresses and phone numbers into links.
This specific patent case originated in May 2014 where a jury said Samsung infringed on those patents and were required to pay Apple a sum of $119.6 million for using them without permission. Interestingly enough, the infringement of the quick links feature amounted to nearly $99 million of the total damages in this case. This ruling was actually overturned by a three-judge panel of the Federal Circuit (a Washington-based court that specializes in patent matters) but it was then reinstated in an October 2016 ruling by a full slate of 11 judges on that court.
Samsung appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States claiming the patent court’s judges did not follow proper procedure since they refused to see additional legal papers or hearing oral arguments. So as you can see, this legal battle has been going back and forth for a long time now and thankfully it comes to an end with the Supreme Court. However, this time around the judges have sided with Apple in the matter and agree that Samsung needs to pay the $119.6 million.
Samsung and Apple will still be in legal disputes over a $399 million ruling for a case which claims Samsung copied key iPhone designs. This trial has not concluded yet though and will have these two companies continuing their battle in the court room.
Source: Reuters
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