The Apple versus Samsung case has wound up in one of the more silly patent trials of the century. Samsung has acknowledged that it might have used some of Apple’s patents, but Jobs Mob wanted an arm and a leg for them. Samsung lawyers said that Apple has vastly exaggerated the importance of its patented iPhone features and Apple said that Samsung should not have entered the smartphone market because it invented it.
The two tech leaders also sparred over how Google's work on the software used in Samsung phones affects Apple's patent claims. Apple and Samsung have been litigating around the world for three years. Jurors awarded the iPhone maker about $930 million after a 2012 trial in San Jose, California, but Apple failed to persuade Judge Lucy Koh to issue a permanent injunction against the sale of Samsung phones. The current case involves five Apple patents that were not in the 2012 trial and which cover iPhone features like slide to unlock and search technology. Apple is again seeking to ban sales of several Samsung phones, including the Galaxy S III, and collect $2 billion in damages.
Samsung also claims Apple violated two patents on streaming video. It is seeking to ban the iPhone 5, and asserted a $6 million damages claim. Samsung attorney William Price said some of Apple's patented technology in the case was never even incorporated into the iPhone. That undermines Cupertino, California-based Apple's claim for billions in damages. Another Samsung attorney, John Quinn, suggested that Apple devised its $2 billion request to inflate the value of the technology and confuse the jury.
But Apple attorney Harold McElhinny said Samsung's copying of Apple technology has greatly harmed the iPhone maker and turned the smartphone market into a two horse race instead of giving Apple total control, which was what nature intended. Samsung's “illegal strategy has been wildly successful," McElhinny claimed.
Apple attorney William Lee said Samsung's low damages request on its own patents was meant to cheapen intellectual property in general. The jury began deliberating yesterday and a verdict could be reached at any time.
