Samsung Loses Lawsuit Against Apple, Plans Appeal

If Samsung loses its appeal, Google may be forced to license programs and designs associated with Apple's patents.

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amsung and Apple's court battle came to a close on Friday with Samsung being ordered to pay $1 billion in damages to Apple. Ouch! A jury found the company guilty of infringing on Apple's patents—so far, Samsung has been found to be in violation of four patents, as well as found guilty of willful infringement for most of the patents in question, except for those regarding the Galaxy Tab.

All of Apple's patents were found to be valid, which was another blow to Samsung. Samsung has been ordered to pay $1.051 billion for its infringements.

Samsung reportedly plans to appeal the verdict, but even if they lose, with $14 billion in reserves, the fines won't really hurt the company that much. An injunction hearing has been set for September 20, and the results of that proceeding could influence the design of Samsung's Nexus S 4G and S II smartphones, as well as any other Android-run devices.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab was exempt from any patent infringments.

The verdict could also affect Google, which develops the Android platform, used in devices produced not only by Samsung, but LG, Motorola, HTC, and more. If Samsung loses the appeal, Google may be forced to license programs and designs associated with Apple's patents, which would likely cause price increases for those devices and programs.

Samsung sounded like a sore loser in its statement released following the verdict, which read, "It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices. It is unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners, or technology that is being improved every day by Samsung and other companies."

Apple, on the other hand, sounded pleased with the results: "We are grateful to the jury for their service and for investing the time to listen to our story and we were thrilled to be able to finally tell it. The mountain of evidence presented during the trial showed that Samsung's copying went far deeper than even we knew. The lawsuits between Apple and Samsung were about much more than patents or money. They were about values."