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On Friday, a U.S. jury found that Samsung had copied critical features of Apple’s iPhone and iPad, and awarded $1.051 billion in damages to Apple. The verdict opens up many possibilities. It can lead to a ban on the sales of certain Samsung products and consolidate Apple’s dominance in the smart phone market.
Apple’s charges against Samsung in that the Korean company had copied Apple’s designs is seen in the industry as a proxy war against Google. Samsung devices are powered by the Android software developed by Google, which is the most widely used mobile software in the market. The verdict also opens up possibilities of other companies now facing legal challenges from Apple, especially those companies that depend upon Google’s Android operating system.
Following the verdict, just this week, Apple became the biggest company in US history according to market value, Apple shares climbed by almost 2% to a record high of $ 675.
The verdict was reached sooner than expected with the jury deliberating for less than three days before reaching its conclusion. At issue were seven patent claims of Apple and five patent claims of Samsung.
In another turn in the global war between Apple and Samsung, earlier on Friday, a South Korean court found both companies shared the blame and passed an order stopping Samsung from selling 10 of its products and banning Apple from selling four products. The bans included the leading products of both Apple and Samsung, namely the Galaxy S II and iPhone 4.
Though Apple and Samsung are rivals in the industry, they also have a $5 billion-plus supply relationship. Apple is the biggest customer for Samsung microprocessors.
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