A jury has found Samsung guilty of infringing on the Apple design. The Apple design has been patented and this is what lead to the dispute between the two companies. The case has been tied up in an appeals trial ever since that happened and now the Federal Circuit believes that the awards for the design were appropriate. They also believe however that the infringement of trade lawsuit was not, and this shift has meant that Samsung now only owes Apple 40{a27fe8a54bbbb4b34c07f1a084b54c3322423f2917b7aa3f832a0db38d5dc338} of the original amount.
The original case was just over the patented design but it quickly escalated to trade dresses and trademark infringement as well. Most of the damages that Apple were demanding were because Samsung misappropriated the elements of the Apple design, but so far, Samsung already owes Apple $548 million. This may seem like a steep amount, but when you compare it to the original amount that they owed, it is certainly good news for Samsung.
One of the claims that Apple had made in the court case was that Samsung placed rounded corners on their new phones. According to Apple, this represented a design element that was part of their own trademark and manufacturer’s dress, which showed a very, visually similar product. Since the appeals court have ruled against this however, Apple won’t receive a payout for this part of the claim and this has driven an even larger wedge between the two technology giants. The Appeals Court have stated that they find the rounded corners of the iPhone makes it more practical and therefore it is not an infringement on the design, instead it is a practical asset.
Who knows what will happen next, but either way, Samsung have been involved with lawsuits with Apple before and this is quite possibly one that they wanted to avoid.