Apple and Samsung have finally found something to agree on… they’re both unhappy about the recent patent battle in which the court ruled that Samsung would have to pay $1 billion to Apple for infringing upon the iPhone and iPad designs.
Of course, the agreeable nature of the tech giants ends there. Apple wants a lot more money, and Samsung doesn’t want to pay anything. Surprised? Well, perhaps at Apple’s demands but certainly not Samsung’s.
The companies will have their chances to share their complaints with U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh on Dec. 6th.
Apple is looking for another $707 million in damages and interest from the company whom Apple contends “made a calculated business decision to copy the industrial designs, graphical user interfaces, and touchscreen navigation technology of the iPhone and iPad.” Court paper submitted by Apple lawyer go on to say that “Samsung has reaped extraordinary rewards from its wrongful sale of iPhone and iPad clones by taking market share, revenues, and profits from Apple.”
The fact of the matter is that Samsung has seen enormous growth over the past year. Whether that success is due to Apple’s patented technology or not is a matter for the courts to decide, but Samsung saw a growth from a market share of 17 percent in 2011 to 33 percent in the second quarter of 2012!
Samsung’s staggering growth in a highly competitive market does not necessarily mean that it came at the expense of Apple’s influence as the same quarterly reports showed that Apple retained 17 percent of the market. The numbers are slightly down from last year’s 19 percent, but the numbers themselves could indicate that Samsung is merely gobbling up its Android competitors.
In any case, that rapid growth lined Samsung’s pockets and not Apple’s. Even though a $1 billion settlement – or even $1.7 billion – would hurt, Samsung likely made much more than that during the past year in just their increased business.
For Samsung’s part, the South-Korean-based technology company has asked for a new trial. They claim that the court’s restrictions on the number of witnesses and testimony time deprived the company of a fair trial.
Documents submitted by Samsung’s lawyers claimed, “The Court’s constraints on trial time, witnesses and exhibits were unprecedented for a patent case of this complexity and magnitude, and prevented Samsung from presenting a full and fair case in response to Apple’s many claims.”
The battle will wage on in American courts, as it does in courts around the world, as the smartphone giants continue to vie for dominance.
Source: CIO Today