The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the violation of Samsung patents design smart phone of Apple may involve only one component, instead of the whole product, meaning that Samsung will not have to pay fines that reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The unanimous decision by judge Sonia Sotomayor was a victory very much needed for Samsung, with issues ranging from smart phones with exploding batteries to washing machines with a fault in the caps. Initially faced nearly $ billion in fines, later reduced to $ 548 million, of which $ 399 million were in dispute, by mimic design elements of the iPhone.
The judges determined that patent infringement could affect only one component of the phones, such as your appearance, instead of all its capabilities. During an oral discussion in October, judge John Roberts had pointed out that Samsung did not infringe on “all the wires and chips”.
“The term” article of manufacture “is broad enough to encompass both a product sold to a consumer as a component of such product if sold separately or not,” wrote Sotomayor.
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