Apple, Samsung Respond to Jury Findings in Patent Infringement Case

Apple v Samsung: The companies respondFollowing Friday afternoon’s landslide win for Apple in its mobile device patent infringement fight with Samsung, both companies have offered up their take on the jury’s findings. Not surprisingly, Apple is pleased with the outcome, while Samsung calls it a big loss for consumers.

First up, Apple’s upbeat statement:

We are grateful to the jury for their service and for investing the time to listen to our story and we were thrilled to be able to finally tell it. The mountain of evidence presented during the trail showed that Samsung’s copying went far deeper than even we knew. The lawsuits between Apple and Samsung were about much more than patents or money. They were about values. At Apple, we value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on earth. We make these products to delight our customers, not for our competitors to flagrantly copy. We applaud the court for finding Samsung’s behavior willful and for sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn’t right.

In other words, Apple wants to make sure they don’t want anyone copying their designs.

And now for Samsung’s not so positive view:

Today’s verdict should not be viewed as a win for Apple, but as a loss for the American consumer. It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices. It is unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners, or technology that is being improved every day by Samsung and other companies. Consumers have the right to choices, and they know what they are buying when they purchase Samsung products. This is not the final word in this case or in battles being waged in courts and tribunals around the world, some of which have already rejected many of Apple’s claims. Samsung will continue to innovate and offer choices for the consumer.

From Samsung’s take, Apple used the courts to stifle innovation and competition, and ultimately it’s consumers that will suffer. Not everyone, however seems to agree with Samsung’s assessment of the jury’s findings.

“You can still make a smartphone, like the Microsoft Windows phone made by Nokia,” Robert Barr, executive director at the University of California at Berkley’s Center for Law and Technology told the New York Times. “It has a different look than the iPhone, different appearance and different features. That would be an example that is unaffected by this.”

The jury in the case found that Apple didn’t infringe on any of Samsung’s patents, while Samsung violated every patent Apple included in its case except for the D’889 patent covering tablet device design. As part of their findings, the jury awarded Apple US$1.05 billion in damages, and chose to not award Samsung any damages.

Apple and Samsung have been fighting over patent infringement claims for more than a year in several courts around the world. Apple claimed Samsung owed $2.5 billion for patent infringement, while Samsung claimed Apple owed 2.4 percent of all iPhone sales for using its patents without proper licensing.

This afternoon’s ruling follows a South Korean court’s ruling from this morning that both Apple and Samsung infringed on each other’s patents. In that case, Apple was ordered to stop selling the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 in the country, while Samsung was ordered to stop selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S and Galaxy S II.

In comparison to the U.S. Federal Court case today, however, the South Korean ruling seems almost inconsequential.