By Kim Yoo-chul
Samsung Electronics welcomed the top U.S. court's decision, Tuesday, to consider its appeal of a ruling that the Korean company infringed on Apple's design patents.
Samsung has sought to cut the $548 million in damages it paid Apple after a ruling that it copied the latter's smartphone designs and technology.
"Samsung Electronics welcomes the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court," Samsung said in a statement.
The decision by the court to review the Samsung-Apple dispute will delay indefinitely a bilateral damages appeal scheduled to begin later this month in the Northern District of California.
"A decision to hear the case is not a decision in any party's favor, but it is substantial headway for Samsung and comes less than a month after the Federal Circuit threw out Apple's entire second California case against Samsung, nixing a $120 million jury award and rendering an injunction decision irrelevant," said Florian Mueller, an intellectual property activist.
He added that Samsung's outside lawyers in the case, Quinn Emanuel, must be very happy.
"The highest court has agreed that there is a need for clarification of how to apply a 19th-century law to 21st-century, multifunctional, high-technology products. That is already, in and of itself, a disagreement with the way the Federal Circuit Court had dismissed Samsung's arguments."
Apple initially sued Samsung in a U.S. court in April 2011 claiming that it intentionally copied design features of its iPhone. Samsung countersued Apple by saying the latter copied its mobile patents.
Samsung was ordered to pay $548 million to Apple, which is one of its key customers. Samsung paid the money in December 2015, while its petition for a review of Apple design patents to the highest U.S. court was pending.
The U.S. court will review whether Samsung's payment to Apple was a penalty for infringing on design patents.
"It is very rare for the U.S. Supreme Court to review design-related patent disputes. The last time the Supreme Court of the United States reviewed design patents was a carpet-related dispute in the 1890s," said an official.
In August 2014, Samsung agreed with Apple to drop all lawsuits worldwide except for the United States.
Samsung Electronics welcomed the top U.S. court's decision, Tuesday, to consider its appeal of a ruling that the Korean company infringed on Apple's design patents.
Samsung has sought to cut the $548 million in damages it paid Apple after a ruling that it copied the latter's smartphone designs and technology.
"Samsung Electronics welcomes the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court," Samsung said in a statement.
The decision by the court to review the Samsung-Apple dispute will delay indefinitely a bilateral damages appeal scheduled to begin later this month in the Northern District of California.
"A decision to hear the case is not a decision in any party's favor, but it is substantial headway for Samsung and comes less than a month after the Federal Circuit threw out Apple's entire second California case against Samsung, nixing a $120 million jury award and rendering an injunction decision irrelevant," said Florian Mueller, an intellectual property activist.
"I'm very happy that the Supreme Court will now take a look at an interpretation of the law that would theoretically threaten even a company like Facebook with the prospect of losing all of their profits over a single design patent infringement. I'm hopeful that something good will come out of this," he said.
He added that Samsung's outside lawyers in the case, Quinn Emanuel, must be very happy.
"The highest court has agreed that there is a need for clarification of how to apply a 19th-century law to 21st-century, multifunctional, high-technology products. That is already, in and of itself, a disagreement with the way the Federal Circuit Court had dismissed Samsung's arguments."
Apple initially sued Samsung in a U.S. court in April 2011 claiming that it intentionally copied design features of its iPhone. Samsung countersued Apple by saying the latter copied its mobile patents.
Samsung was ordered to pay $548 million to Apple, which is one of its key customers. Samsung paid the money in December 2015, while its petition for a review of Apple design patents to the highest U.S. court was pending.
The U.S. court will review whether Samsung's payment to Apple was a penalty for infringing on design patents.
"It is very rare for the U.S. Supreme Court to review design-related patent disputes. The last time the Supreme Court of the United States reviewed design patents was a carpet-related dispute in the 1890s," said an official.
In August 2014, Samsung agreed with Apple to drop all lawsuits worldwide except for the United States.
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