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Court reverses a portion of Apple's $930 million win in patent case against Samsung

In a filing posted earlier today, the U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that Apple's $930 million win against Samsung will be reduced by $382 million.
By
May 18, 2015

Although Samsung was forced to pay Apple almost $1 billion for infringing on design and utility patents found in early iPhones, that large sum of money will soon be greatly reduced. In a filing posted earlier today, the U.S. Court of Appeals has reestablished that Samsung did indeed infringe on a number of design patents held by Apple. However, out of the $930 million Apple was supposed to receive, the court has just ruled that $382 million will be reversed due to “trade dress dilution”.

The court originally ruled that Samsung basically copied the way Apple packaged and presented its iPhones, as well as a few aesthetic features like the smartphones’ rounded rectangle shape and rows of square application icons. But in the new ruling today, the court says that the trademarks are invalid because they relate too much to the functioning of the phone. The court says that granting these trademarks to Apple would essentially give the company a monopoly over these features forever.

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The legal fight between the two companies has been going on since 2011, and Apple was originally awarded the $930 million one year later. Apple ultimately failed to convince the U.S. District Judge to ban all sales of infringing Galaxy S products in the United States, which are not on the market anymore.

What are your thoughts? Do you have any strong feelings on the never-ending Samsung vs. Apple wars?