![Six years later, Samsung vs Apple legal dispute to get a re-trial. [Image by Samsung Mobile/Youtube screenshot]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2017/10/24/660x290/b_502x220x82/six-years-later-samsung-vs-apple-legal-dispute-to-get-a-re-trial-image-creditsamsung-mobileyoutube-screenshot_1651415.jpg "Six years later, Samsung vs Apple legal dispute to get a re-trial. [Image by Samsung Mobile/Youtube screenshot]")
Apple and Samsung are arch-rivals. The tech giants have been in a consistent competition with each other in the gadgets market. The two are also known to be in a legal battle for years. Both Samsung and Apple have taken rounds to accuse each other of infringing design patents. The latest trial in the run has been going on since 2011. That makes it almost over six years. This is the longest legal confrontation that has taken place in the technology world.
Everything you need to know
In this case, Apple filed a lawsuit against Samsung. The Cupertino giant claimed that Samsung had blatantly copied some of its product designs, without approval.
The South Korean giant – in response, was initially slapped with a fine of $1 billion. Samsung’s lawyers, however, managed to get it down till $399 million, a report by Tech Radar reads. The appeal had been approved by the court in December 2016. However, it appears that even that is under scrutiny now. US District Court Judge, Lucy Koh has been in charge of Apple versus Samsung case for years. On Sunday, October 22, Koh made an announcement. According to the announcement, Samsung and Apple have been given until Wednesday, October 25 to set a new trial date for their dispute. It was Florian Mueller (Patent Attorney) who first spoke about the Samsung vs. Apple retrial ruling. He was reported by Tech Radar as saying that he could not believe that the judge has given this verdict.
He said that there is now a “30 percent” chance that the two companies might end up settling this outside of court.
Why is the retrial taking place?
The first ruling made by Lucy Koh was based on the profits that Samsung made off the smartphones which copied (or infringed) designs from Apple’s patents. In Samsung’s defense, the company said that the damages must be measured on the basis of “individual elements” and not the entire device.
In other words, the South Korean company argued that not each and every element of the smartphone had been copied from Apple’s patents. There were multiple unique elements, and it does not make sense for them to pay damages for something that they're not guilty of. Apple, however, argued that their shape is iPhone’s true identity.
The lawyers made use of a 1949 report as their point of reference. The report suggested that ninety-nine percent of Americans identified the Coca-Cola bottle by its shape. The same is applicable with Apple’s iPhone.
