A jury foreman, who helped lead the verdict won Apple 5.5 percent of $2.2 billion rival Samsung owed it recently, recommended Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) sue Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) directly rather than Android manufacturers.
Samsung is not Apple’s main target
There have been previous suggestions Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was using Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:0059935) primarily as a proxy target. The iPhone maker’s real talent is Android. International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM)’s Tom Dunham elaborated on the matter, “If you really feel that Google is the cause behind this, as I think everybody has observed, then don’t beat around the bush. Let the courts decide. But a more direct approach may be something to think about”
This mindset is actually a win for Samsung. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) infringed on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), not Samsung. This argument is backed by the fact the search giant offered to underwrite the South Korean tech company’s costs if the case was lost.
Apple claimed rival stole five key patents
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) sued Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:0059935) for infringing on five particular patents which went upwards to $2 billion. Samsung claimed Apple’s patents were not valid and that it didn’t steal rival’s patents. Not surprisingly, most of the patents Apple is suing over are related to Samsung’s software features. This is also why Google is willing to compensate Samsung for damages. The law behind patents allows lawsuits to become filed over products with infringing codes. For Apple, Samsung is a large target at least in terms of damages which profits of products with infringed patents. This is comparable to Google which gives Android way for nothing.
The jury discovered Samsung infringed on three patents including a “data detector” patent that turned typed text into links, a patent for autocorrect, and a patent for gesture-based unlock screening. The jury also discovered Samsung did not infringe on two patents: one, related to combined internet-based and local search, another with data synchronization methods.
The battle between Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:0059935) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) won’t be slowing down anytime soon.
