Google, Facebook and other tech firms support Samsung — Samsung vs Apple

According to a report from Inside Sources, it has been revealed that major tech companies in the USA have thrown their support behind Samsung in a recent “friend of the court” briefing.

Google, Facebook, and eBay are supporting Samsung’s objection to the court decision ordering it to fork over profits from smartphones found to infringe upon certain Apple patents.

They further said that this decision, if allowed to stand, may lead to stifling of innovation and may badly impact the companies which spend million so dollars annually on R&D for complex technologies.

Just like Taylor Swift in Bad Blood, Samsung has also found a powerful group of backers in its fight against Apple in court. “But the panel’s decision could allow the owner of the design patent to receive all profits generated by the product or platform, even if the infringing element was largely insignificant to the user”, the brief states. That Samsung can be successfully sued over singular design features and forced to pay damages based on overall device sales rather than a portion of profits sets a unsafe precedent, the group argues.

Software products and online platforms face similar dangers.

You can find out more details about the document that was filed in favor of Samsung over at Inside Sources, whether or not this will help Samsung reduce the damages it has to pay to Apple remains to be seen.

Apple and Samsung have been embroiled in legal fisticuffs for years, ever since Apple first filed a lawsuit against Samsung for violating various intellectual properties, such as tap-to-zoom, single-finger scrolling and two-finger zooming, as well as edge-to-edge glass design, among other things. This was the “total profit” of the infringing Galaxy products, and was supposed to make up for Apple’s lost sales. That feature may appear only during a particular use of the product, on one screen display among hundreds.

The coalition argues that the design patents covered only minor features and that should the court uphold the judgment and force Samsung to pay Apple damages over patent infringements it would be detrimental to the development of the industry and consumer choice. The Cupertino company specifically called out Google, pointing out that the company has a strong interest in the case because its behind the Android operating system used by Samsung and that the Mountain View company can not be an impartial “friend of the court”.