Apple wins US$1 billion lawsuit against Samsung for patent infringement

Apple has won its patent and design lawsuits against Samsung, although it has been awarded less than half the damages it had claimed.

The US jury awarded Apple US$1 billion in damages after deciding that Samsung had infringed several of Apple’s patents. Apple could also now seek a ban on sales of infringing products in the US. However, Apple will be able to openly claim that Samsung copied its designs, which could be the bigger victory for the company.

Samsung has already said that it is planning to appeal.

"We will move immediately to file post-verdict motions to overturn this decision in this court and if we are not successful, we will appeal this decision to the Court of Appeals," a statement from Samsung said.

The jury deliberated for less than three days after the two sides closed their arguments in court.

In addition to ruling that Samsung had infringed Apple patents, the jury also said that the infringement was "wilful" in some cases.

The jury more controversially also ruled that Samsung had copied some aspects of the design of Apple’s iPhone, including the system used for icons and text, but dismissed the same allegations against Samsung’s tablets.

The jury also rejected all of Samsung’s claims against Apple.

Most of the offending models have now been discontinued anyway; such is the duration of legal cases compared to the speed of turnover in the smartphone market.

Samsung added in a statement that "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."

It is widely expected that Apple will use the victory to pursue a case against Android based smartphone vendors as well.