Apple vs. Samsung: Is the verdict pro-consumer?

The victory of Apple against Samsung in the famous patent case indicates the arrival of hard days for its rivals. Samsung has termed its defeat as loss to consumers; on the contrary, Apple has termed its victory as the gain for the American patent system and innovation. The judgment is symptomatic of the high investment in innovation to be made by Apple’s rivals, which indicates higher costs for everyone.

Though, Samsung will have to pay $1.05 billion to Apple. But ultimately, it is its customers, who will have to pay higher prices as the device manufacturers pay more to Apple for license of the technology they already use. It would result in several Samsung and Android devices going out of the market, whereby the consumer will face shortage of choice.

Following are the devices that will be adversely affected:

1.      Galaxy S,

2.      Galaxy S II,

3.      Nexus S,

4.      Mesmerize,

5.      Vibrant,

6.      Fascinate,

7.      Skyrocket,

8.      Continuum,

9.      Prevail,

10.  Infuse,

11.  Gem,

12.  Mesmerize,

13.  Indulge,

14.  Replenish,

15.  Epic 4G Touch,

16.  Droid Charge,

17.  Nexus S smart-phones

18.  Galaxy Tab and

19.  Galaxy Tab 10.1

The verdict may result in a gain for Apple in terms of market share and profits in the form of sharp rise in its share prices after the verdict. But the verdict does not lie in the favour of consumers for many reasons.

Choice and competition must prevail in the market, which is not going to be the aftermath of the decision. This may make the losers unite to take revenge from Apple to often beat Apple in whichever way they can.

Further, as observed by Judge Richard Posner in an earlier Apple versus Motorola case, Apple often adopts patent litigation as a tool not for safeguarding breakthrough innovation, but to stall and delay competitors. 

Conclusively, there is an open question. Does the verdict favour the market and consumers of smart-phones?

Apple vs. Samsung: remarkable day for Apple

In a much awaited judgment that has been a landmark one in the IP realm, to be precise, patent realm, the US court jury has ordered Samsung to pay Apple $1.05 billion. There is a room for appeal against the judgment.

Giving brief insights of the case, Apple Inc. filed its patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung Electronics Co., in April 2011, claiming $2.5 billion. Samsung Electronics Co. fired back with its own lawsuit seeking $399 million.

In its verdict, the US court jury in California rejected all Samsung's claims against Apple. However, the jurors also decided against some of Apple's claims involving the two dozen Samsung devices at issue, declining to award the full $2.5 billion Apple demanded.

The U.S. trial was the latest skirmish between the two tech giants as they have filed similar lawsuits in eight other countries, including South Korea, Germany, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain, France and Australia.

In the home court ruling, Samsung won global patent battle against Apple as judges in a Seoul court held that Samsung didn't copy the look and feel of the iPhone and ruled that Apple infringed on Samsung's wireless technology. But they also held that Samsung had violated Apple's technology behind the feature that causes a screen to bounce back when a user scrolls to an end image. Both sides were ordered to pay limited damages.

Before the US Court's verdict against it, Samsung had also lost previously in European court, where judges ruled that Samsung patents were part of industry standards that must be licensed under fair terms to competitors.

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