Samsung and Apple have amazing products. The two tech companies released their latest phones Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and iPhone 6S. The two phones took the market by storm because of their high modernized features. Besides winning over their customers, the companies also strive to win in courtrooms.
An Appeal court passed a ruling forcing Samsung to refrain from using certain patented Apple features in its devices, giving Apple a victory in the prolonged patent infringement suit between the two tech companies. In 2014, a jury established that Samsung infringed three Apple patents, one for quick links, one for slide-to-unlock and another for automatic word correction. Apple had asked the court to ban Samsung’s products that used those patents, but US District Court Judge Lucy Koh said monetary damages were sufficient in resolving the harm done to Apple.
However, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit disagreed with the decisions passed in 2014.”The right to exclude competitors from using one’s property rights is important,” Judge Kimberly A. Moore wrote Thursday in the majority opinion. “And the right to maintain exclusivity a hallmark and crucial guarantee of patent rights deriving from the Constitution itself is likewise important.”
The judges said that, the lower court was wrong when it required Apple to show that the infringing features were the reason why consumers purchased the accused products.
“Apple loses sales because Samsung products contain Apple’s patented features,” the court said. “Apple does not need to establish that these features are the reason customers bought Samsung phones instead of Apple phones — it is enough that Apple has shown that these features were related to infringement and were important to customers when they were examining their phone choices.”
Cnet reports that the court of Appeal sent the case back to lower courts to be reconsidered. The ruling implies that Samsung may have to change some features of its smartphones and tablets. However, Samsung said only one of its current devices used patented Apple features.
“We want to reassure our millions of loyal customers that all of our flagship smartphones, which are wanted and loved by American consumers, will remain for sale and available for customer service support in the US,” Samsung said. “For decades, we have invested heavily in developing revolutionary innovations in the mobile industry. We look forward to continue to provide American consumers with a wide choice of groundbreaking products that they have come to expect from the Samsung brand.”
“We reinforce what courts around the world have already found…that Samsung willfully stole our ideas and copied our products. We are fighting to defend the hard work that goes into beloved products like the iPhone, which our employees devote their lives to designing and delivering for our customers.”Apple said.
