Samsung and Apple have been going after each other for quite a few years now, and it appears that they are about to make a trip to the United States Supreme Court. Today, the Supreme Court announced via PDF on their website that they are granting Samsung’s petition to review the case. The petition is in regards to the damages that Samsung has had to pay to Apple. Samsung agreed to pay the $548 million in damages to Apple in late 2015. With this trial being set to take place soon, it’s very likely that the retrial that was scheduled to take place this month will be postponed.
It’s important to note here that where the US Supreme Court – which is the highest court in the US – has agreed to hear the case, it doesn’t mean that the Supreme Court is siding with Apple nor Samsung. Many thought that the Supreme Court wouldn’t take this case, but those people were wrong. This is the second “victory” for Samsung in the past month, as far as legal victories go. Not only is the Supreme Court going to hear their case, but they also had a verdict overturned by the appeals court here in the US. That verdict imposed a $120 million in damages fine.
Samsung vs Apple has been going on for years, and it’s likely to continue to keep going for the next few years as well. Especially with their retrial set to take place soon – which will now have to be after the Supreme Court is finished. It’s clear that both companies have infringed on each others’ patents as the jury back in February stated in their verdict. What will be interesting with this case is seeing how the Supreme Court uses a 19th-century law in the 21st-century, where things have changed quite a bit in regards to intellectual property as well as how technology has evolved over the years.
As always with Samsung vs Apple, we’ll be sure to keep you up-to-date with all the details in this case. This one is likely to be a pretty lengthy case, although we’ve already sat through some really lengthy cases between the two companies.