The final verdict awards Apple $539 million from Samsung. Finally Apple has won the battle with South Korean giant Samsung, as a federal court directed Samsung to pay Apple $539 million for copying Apple iPhone design. The verdict is a big win for Apple as Supreme Court has directed the South Korean giant to cough up more money than before decided in the previous trials.
Back in 2012, Apple gave birth to lawsuit by accusing Samsung of infringing three of its smartphone patents ( rounded corners of its phones; the grid of icons users view; the rim surrounding the front face) and 2 utility patents, which does secure the unique way something works & is used. At that time, Apple sought $1 billion in damages after it was established that Samsung did infringement patents, but Samsung argued to pay $28 million only.
The next year this verdict was overturned asking Samsung to pay $399 million to Apple. However, Samsung again appealed against the verdict and the case went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016. Samsung believes that the fine should be in relation to the components that infringe the patents instead of the cost of overall devices. Apple was also desiring court to consider and now in May 2018 the final verdict has been issued for Samsung to cough up additional $140 million.
Apple believed lawsuit to be more than money. On the other hand, Samsung told the judges that the final verdict was not supported by the evidence. Samsung said, “Today’s decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favour of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages,” adding that “We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers.”
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No doubt the verdict may have come as a relief to Apple considering it is more than 10X the amount Samsung was willing to pay Apple, it will be interesting to evaluate the significance of the payout.
The winner company sought the damage of $1 billion ( significant amount for the company considering $108 billion in revenue and $26 billion in earnings reported in fiscal 2011) and filed the lawsuit 1st in 2011. $1 billion in damage was equal to 1 percent of the company’s total revenue or 4 percent of the total profit in fiscal year 2011. Indeed, it would have made a significant impact on accounts books of Apple.
Now in 2018 when the U.S. Supreme Court rules in the favour of Apple, the company has reported $48.3 billion in profit in fiscal year 2017 ending September 30, 2017. The $539 million payout equal to little over 1 percent of the company’s total profits.
Besides, since Apple filed the lawsuit first in 2011, the company garnered more than $313.5 billion in profits and Interestingly the awarded amount is lesser than Apple’s net profit in any of the given quarter since the filing of the lawsuit.
The $539 million payout is becoming quite insignificant in the current scenario and the awarded amount is hardly enough for Cupertino-giant to make any move to create an impact on the company’s overall strategy.
As it is more about the principal of things than money, though the awarded amount is enough for Apple to create a buzz, winning over Samsung is definitely a big morale boost for iPhone the company.
