Samsung told to pay $533 m to Apple in patent case

San Jose (US), May 25

A federal court jury on Friday ordered Samsung to pay Apple $533 million for copying iPhone design features in a patent case dating back seven years.

Jurors tacked on an additional $5 million in damages for a pair of patented functions. The award appeared to be a bit of a victory for Apple, which had argued in court that design was essential to the iPhone.

The case was sent back to the district court following a Supreme Court decision to revisit an earlier $400 million damage award.

To arrive at a damages award of more than a half-billion dollars, jurors would likely have needed to buy into Apple’s reasoning that design was so integral to the iPhone that it was essentially the “article of manufacture.” — AFP