Besieged Samsung scores Supreme Court win
Victory over Apple reverses string of product setbacks
Court’s ruling Tuesday that Samsung may not owe Apple the full profits from smartphones that copied iPhone design features could further expand the market for the popular devices.
The high court reversed a lower court decision that Samsung had to pay $399 million in damages for violating three of Apple’s design patents on the iPhone’s shape and colorful icons. The justices ordered that court to decide whether only components were infringed upon, not the entire product.
The 8-0 verdict from Justice Sonia Sotomayor was a muchneeded victory for Samsung, beset with problems ranging from smartphones that burst into flames to washers with exploding tops. It initially faced nearly $1 billion in penalties, later reduced to $548 million, for imitating elements of the iPhone’s design. Nearly $400 million was at stake in the current dispute.
“The term ‘article of manufacture’ is broad enough to embrace both a product sold to a consumer and a component of that product whether sold separately or not,” Sotomayor wrote.
The ruling jibed with comments several justices made when the highly charged case was argued in October. Chief Justice John Roberts noted then that Samsung did not infringe on “all the chips and wires.”
The ruling could impact the buying habits of consumers, who increasingly are being offered a slew of new smartphones from