Apple wins ruling to end Samsung’s smartphone infringement

“To rule otherwise would eliminate patent rights of inventors of certain features in multicomponent devices, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington said in an opinion posted on its electronic docket”.

The court said it had granted Apple a “narrow” ruling, saying it did not want to take Samsung’s devices off the shelves.

The lower court already awarded Apple a huge payout for the infringement claims but declined to grant Apple’s request for an injunction that would force Samsung to design around the infringing patents and would prevent the company from making or selling the software.

The case stems from a 2014 trial in San Jose in which a jury awarded Apple more than $119 million in damages for infringement by Samsung.

The ruling could have wide-ranging effects on the patent landscape, particularly when it comes to devices like smartphones that have a complex variety of patents and features. Samsung recently began selling the Galaxy S6, which was unaffected by Thursday’s decision.

The whole spat started when Apple filed suit against Samsung in April 2011, accusing its rival of copying the look and feel of its iPhones and iPads.

The majority ruling Thursday is a reverse from the district court judge, who determined that infringement of the specific Apple patents in question could not be traced back to a loss of sales, because smartphones rely on so many different patented technologies.

Part of the debate in Thursday’s ruling focused on whether Apple could show a sufficient connection between the patents at issue in the case and demand for infringing Samsung phones. “This is not a case where the public would be deprived of Samsung’s products”.

“Apple loses sales because Samsung products contain Apple’s patented features”, Moore continued. None of those were named in the suit, however, the ruling provides Apple’s legal team with a valuable precedent.

“The right to exclude competitors from using one’s property rights is important”, the court ruled. It’s another victory in Apple’s string of wins against Samsung in a battle that has gone on for years.

One of the reasons that Koh may have decided not to impose the injunction against Samsung is that Apple has reported soaring profits and iPhone sales.

Reuters earlier reported the Thursday ruling. Samsung’s lawyers told the jury that Apple’s case was about its “holy war” against Google, quoting a comment from an internal email from late CEO Steve Jobs, and not truly aimed at Samsung.