Apple’s $120 Million Patent Win Against Samsung Overturned

It looks like Samsung’s pockets are about to get a whole lot heavier – to the tune of $120 million, actually, as the US Court of Appeals has overturned the 2014 verdict of a California federal court which claimed that Samsung was the guilty party when infringing upon Apple’s smartphone patents, having been instructed to make amends by forking out $119.6 million as damages to the Cupertino company.

Apple claimed that the South Korean conglomerate infringed on its “quick links” patent, in addition to a couple more patents that concerns the iPhone’s slide-to-unlock and auto-correct features. Just to keep up to speed, the quick links feature allows devices to tell whether certain kinds of data like phone numbers can be transformed into clickable links.

The appeals court threw out Apple’s allegations, citing that Samsung’s technology when it comes to detecting and linking are totally different, with the other aforementioned patents mentioned in the case as invalid. In fact, the court claimed that Apple was the party who infringed on one of Samsung’s patents.

A Samsung spokesperson shared, “Today’s decision is a win for consumer choice and puts competition back where it belongs – in the marketplace, not in the courtroom.” Apple has remained mum on the matter. Looks like Samsung’s appeal has borne fruit after all.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Apple
Tags: Legal, Patent, Samsung