Those following the Samsung and Apple news will be all too familiar with the ongoing court battles between the two. While it had seemed as though they were calming down, it seems they have only calmed down in the quantity of court battles. The most prevalent of the battles at the moment, is one which had already been concluded. Although, since that conclusion, an appeal had been lodged, which was also followed by a request by Samsung to have the case looked at by the US Supreme court (which was granted). The latter of which has been taking place over the last week or two.
The latest on this is that a report out of Reuters now confirms that yesterday the US Department of Justice weighed in with a recommendation to the US Supreme Court to overturn the appeal verdict. Essentially, returning the case to the courts once more. However, while on the face of it this would seem as though it is in direct support for Samsung, it is not that simple. Samsung’s approach with this particular patent battle is not to necessarily argue against infringing an Apple patent, but instead it is more focused on arguing that infringing patented components should not directly relate to profits for an entire device. Drawing on the patent industry as a reference point and explaining that if aspect patents are awarded with full product damages, this will be dangerous for the industry as a whole and stifle future innovation.
This is essentially what the US Supreme Court is tasked with addressing. While the US Department of Justice is not particularly endorsing Samsung’s stance, they are advising that the debate should be turned over to the trial court to be further addressed. As none of the parties are actually contesting the actual patent infringement, this more comes down to the amount which Samsung will have to pay in the end. This was initially set at close to the $1 billion figure, although that was further revised down during the appeal to under $550 million, around this time last year. If Samsung is successful in their approach, that figure is likely to come down further. As well as set a precedent for other patent battles in the future.