From the dawn of smartphones, the industry has been fiercely competitive – and at the head of the competition is Apple and Samsung. Since 2011, the two companies have battled it out tooth and nail in the marketplace as well as in the courtroom, with Apple accusing Samsung of stealing its patented iPhone design.
Since the patent infringement lawsuit began, many twists and turns have happened along the way. And last night, the dispute nearly concluded when the two opponents filed a joint statement with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The big takeaway from the statement: Samsung will pay to Apple $548 million in damages.
Samsung’s move comes a month after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied Samsung’s request for a full-bench hearing to review the damages award in light of new information about one of Apple’s patents.
As part of the settlement, Samsung confirmed to Apple that it will pay the maker of the iPhone the damages within 10 days of Apple’s delivery of its invoice.
However, the $548 million payment is one part of a larger one billion payment that the court ordered Samsung to pay to Apple in 2012.
The one billion amount was reduced after Samsung appealed the order and got it split into two parts – one part for for the technology patents Apple alleges Samsung copied (the $548 million) and one part for allegedly copying packaging. The damages for the second part will be decided by a jury in 2016.
In his biography, Apple’s founder Steve Jobs is quoted as saying: “I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go to thermonuclear war on this.”
And it seems that his mission is on the way to completion. Last night’s agreement was reached just four months before the lawsuit’s fifth anniversary.
