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SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Apple Inc.'s $1 billion legal victory could mean fewer smartphone options for consumers to choose from, analysts said.
A federal jury's verdict Friday that Samsung Electronic Co. stole Apple's technology to make and market smartphones using Google's Android software sends a warning to other companies manufacturing similar devices, the biggest marketplace threat to Apple.
"Some of these device makers might end up saying, `We love Android, but we really don't want to fight with Apple anymore,"' said Christopher Marlett, CEO of MDB Capital Group, an investment bank specializing in intellectual property. "I think it may ultimately come down to Google having to indemnify these guys, if it wants them to continue using Android."
That's if the verdict stands. Samsung, the Seoul-based global leader among smartphone makers, vowed to fight. Its lawyers told the judge it intended to ask her to toss out the verdict.
"This decision should not be allowed to stand because it would discourage innovation and limit the rights of consumers to make choices for themselves," Samsung lead lawyer John Quinn said. He argued that the judge or an appeals court should overturn the verdict.
Apple lawyers plan to formally demand Samsung pull its most popular cellphones and computer tablets from the U.S. market. They also can ask the judge to triple the damages from $1.05 billion to $3 billion.
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh will decide those issues, along with Samsung's demand she overturn the jury's verdict, in several weeks. Quinn said Samsung would appeal if the judge refuses to toss out the decision.
Apple Inc. filed its patent infringement lawsuit in April 2011 and engaged the country's highest-paid patent lawyers to demand $2.5 billion from its top smartphone competitor. Samsung Electronics Co. fired back with its own lawsuit seeking $399 million.
The jury on Friday rejected all Samsung's claims against Apple, but also decided against some of Apple's claims involving the two dozen Samsung devices at issue.
It found that several Samsung products illegally used such Apple creations as the "bounce-back" feature when a user scrolls to an end image, and the ability to zoom text with a tap of a finger.
The U.S. case was the latest skirmish in a global legal battle between the two tech giants. Its outcome is likely to have ripple effects in the smartphone market. Other device makers relying on Android, the mobile operating system that Google Inc. has given for free to Samsung and other phone makers, may be more reluctant to use the software and risk getting dragged into court.
During closing arguments, Apple attorney Harold McElhinny claimed Samsung had a "crisis of design" after the 2007 launch of the iPhone, and executives were determined to cash in illegally on the success of the revolutionary device.
Samsung's lawyers countered that it was legally giving consumers what they want: smartphones with big screens. They said Samsung didn't violate Apple's patents and alleged innovations claimed by Apple were created by other companies.
Samsung said after the verdict that it was "unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners."
"This is by no means the final word in this case," Quinn said in a statement. "Patent law should not be twisted so as to give one company a monopoly over the shape of smartphones."
The jurors' determination that Samsung took Apple's ideas probably matters more to the companies than the monetary damages, Marlett said.
"I don't know if $1 billion is hugely significant to Apple or Samsung," Marlett said. "But there is a social cost here. As a company, you don't want to be known as someone who steals from someone else. I am sure Samsung wants to be known as an innovator, especially since a lot of Asian companies have become known for copying the designs of innovators."
Apple and Samsung combined account for more than half of global smartphone sales. Samsung has sold 22.7 million smartphones and tablets that Apple claimed uses its technology. McElhinny said those devices accounted for $8.16 billion in sales since June 2010.
Samsung's Galaxy line of phones run on Android, and ISI Group analysts viewed the verdict as a blow to Android as much as Samsung.
If Android lose any ground in the mobile computing market, that would hurt Google, too. That's because Google relies on Android to drive mobile traffic to its search engine and services to sell more advertising.
Google entered the smartphone market while its then-CEO Eric Schmidt was on Apple's board, infuriating Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who considered Android to be a blatant rip-off of the iPhone's innovations.
After shoving Schmidt off Apple's board, Jobs vowed that Apple would resort to "thermonuclear war" to destroy Android and its allies.
The Apple-Samsung trial came after each side filed a blizzard of legal motions and refused advisories by the judge to settle the dispute out of court. Legal experts and Wall Street analysts had viewed Samsung as the trial's underdog. Apple's headquarters is just 10 miles from the San Jose courthouse, and jurors were picked from the heart of Silicon Valley, where Jobs is a revered technological pioneer.
A verdict came after less than three days of deliberations, surprising observers who expected longer deliberations because of the case's complexity.
While the issues were complex, patent expert Alexander I. Poltorak has said the case would likely boil down to whether jurors believed Samsung's products look and feel like Apple's iPhone and iPad.
Samsung's lawyers argued that many of Apple's claims of innovation were either obvious concepts or ideas stolen from Sony Corp. and others. Experts called that line of argument a high-risk strategy because of Apple's reputation as an innovator.
Apple's lawyers argued there is almost no difference between Samsung products and those of Apple, and presented internal Samsung documents they said showed it copied Apple designs. Samsung lawyers insisted that several other companies and inventors had developed much of the Apple technology at issue.
Apple and Samsung have filed similar lawsuits in South Korea, Germany, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain, France and Australia.
"This is not the final word in this case or in battles being waged in courts and tribunals around the world, some of which have already rejected many of Apple's claims," Samsung said in its statement.
Samsung won a home court ruling earlier Friday in the global patent battle against Apple. Judges in Seoul said Samsung didn't copy the look and feel of the iPhone and ruled that Apple infringed on Samsung's wireless technology.
But like the jury in California, South Korean judges said Samsung violated Apple's technology behind the "bounce-back" feature. Both sides were ordered to pay limited damages.
The Seoul ruling was a rare victory for Samsung in its arguments that Apple has infringed on its wireless technology patents. Samsung's claims previously were shot down by courts in Europe, where judges ruled that Samsung patents must be licensed under fair terms to competitors.
The U.S. case is one of some 50 lawsuits among myriad telecommunications companies jockeying for position in the burgeoning $219 billion market for computer tablets and smartphones.
Associated Press writers Michael Liedtke in San Francisco and Sam Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.
Comments
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, had provided political support for a series of fascism crimes which related to a cold-blooded killing of an innocent Stanford student May Zhou (a girl of U.S. citizen, Taiwan origin, MIT alumnus and Stanford Ph.D. candicate) as well as an unsuccssful plotted murder on me, all started from an on campus atrocity case in Stanford University [Stanford Police Case Number: IR #04-111-0335;Victim: Peter Cao; Criminal Suspect: Gabriele Scheler], in which an extremely irrational Germany lady named Gabriele Scheler had bitterly assaulted me. Chancellor Merkel might as well back up a coup in Stanford after she visited Stanford in 2010, though it was cracked down by California Judicial Authorities in time. It is an interesting question of how much Chancellor Angela Merkel had invovled into such series of facsism crimes on land of America. I bet with the intervention of Germany power into these cases, such series of fascism crimes would never be clarified and such fascism crimes on land of America would never be concurred by U.S. Authorities. A very serious offending to the dignity and sovereignty of people of the United States
Eric Schmidt shown here had lost his credibility when he got invovled into fascism crimes which had endangered human lives
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There is actually a war between fascism and anti-fascism, at this stage, fascism still prevails in our lives, Eric Schmidt, Sebastian Thrun and Gabriele Scheler are just front figures we could see in this fascism circle, there is a whole pack of fascists behind them
Eric, as we can see, starting from Gabriele Scheler's atrocity case on Stanford campus back in 2004, many people, including Gabriele Scheler, Sebastian Thrun, you Eric Schmidt, and also your collegue in China Kaifu Lee, had made contributions to such fascism crimes which had cost human life of Stanford student May Zhou and crimes which had retaliated on victims and almost cost life of the victim as I am
... ... and someone who had provided legal coverage for your fascism crimes, including a powerful officer from Santa Clara DA Office, namely ZZZ (and after ZZZ, another officer YYY), and the officer VVV who's in charge of Gabriele Scheler's case and who had further collateralled with your side(suspect Eric Schmidt, Sebastian Thrun and Gabriele Scheler's side) to conspire and curse victims( Stanford, May Zhou, me) in every possible way since 2006 till today; and maybe include the officer RRR who insist on May Zhou's death as a suicide or accident, even though I had clearly pointed out who's involved in May Zhou's murder case ...
... ... and someone who could provide political support for your fascism crimes, including top politician from the country of Germany whom we all know -- Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, and maybe include a retired top politician from UK as well, etc. and more and more to find out later ...
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I believe, though some names missed out, all names mentioned in the above comment are part of this fascism circle
Here is a link to the briefing of the case which led to a series of fascism crimes.
One photo would tell it all, there are seven photo evidence which documented how cruel this irrational lady was when she assaulted me on Stanford campus in 2004
[http://tysurl DOT com/mssgYn] (replace DOT with '.' and then get the right web address)
[Stanford Police Case Number: IR #04-111-0335;Victim: Peter Cao; Criminal Suspect: Gabriele Scheler]
Such simple but serious campus atrocity crime was covered up by certain malicious officers. How could this happen? Who's in charge of Gabriele Scheler's case? On what basis would certain officers rule against me in favor of this criminal suspect Gabriele Scheler in light of such clear evidence of Gabriele Scheler's atrocity on my body? Even, certain malicious officers (ZZZ, YYY, RRR, VVV) had abused their judicial power to make up false accusation of sexual assault on criminal suspect Scheler's recanted testimony to curse victim as I am, to cover up Scheler's crimes while retaliating on victims (e.g. Stanford people, May Zhou, and me, etc.)
I believe it is with the intervention of Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel that Gabriele Scheler's criminal case could never be clarified in U.S. judicial system and retaliatory crimes would be going on and on form criminal suspect Scheler's side, which had led to the killing of this innocent Stanford student May Zhou as well as an unsuccessful murder on me. I bet more would come if this case remain unclarified at authorities as what it is now; But who's word count on land of America?
Here is a real problem at this stage: who is the officer responsible for May Zhou's case? Suicide theory in May Zhou's case remain unbelievable until the officer who said so had a direct discussion with me who's life had been threatened by Sebastian Thrun, Eric Schmidt and Gabriele Scheler's side with the death of May Zhou
On 2012/02/21 StanfordDaily article "virtual-learning" [http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/02/21/virtual-learning/] in Comments part regarding to a murder case about a Stanford student May Zhou with which Eric Schmidt had threatened my life for sake of a stanford professor Sebastian Thrun and a criminal suspect named Gabriele Scheler during their fight with Stanford:
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@concernedNetCitizen,
About your ARROGANT question "If you think you have evidence (and i mean physical evidence) to the contrary why do you not take it to the police, or at least post what evidence you have (and I mean PHYSICAL evidence like fibres, DNA, fingerprints and the like)."
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... such PHYSICAL evidence already exists and that's what I am going to tell.
The point at this time is, who is this officer who's respnosible for May Zhou's case, whom I should talk to? Could you have me connect with this officer? I have serious stuff to report; my contact caomingpter@163.com or peter_vista@yahoo.com
Meanwhile, why don't you help us to figure out what's the motivation behind May Zhou's death
My understanding is that Chancellor Angela Merkel's intervension is one of the primary reasons of why Gabriele Scheler's atrocity case on Stanford campus [Stanford Police Case Number: IR #04-111-0335;Victim: Peter Cao; Criminal Suspect: Gabriele Scheler] remains unclarified in the U.S. judicial system after over eight years. Again, that's a serious offending to the sovereignty and dignity of people of the United States
The problem with Gabriele Scheler's case is that Gabriele Scheler's side had recanted their testimony after Stanford police investigation in 2004; there are certain malicious officers (e.g. ZZZ mentioned above) who chose to stand on this criminal suspect Gabriele Scheler's side and collateralled with Scheler to conspire victims(e.g. Stanford, May Zhou, me, and later on Google as well) in order to cover up their crimes while applying retaliation on victims, but Scheler's side dare never show me any of their evidence nor testimony (mine were post on the web) which they used to molest victims for years, and most of all, such malicious officers do not want to see this case from being clarified
But without clarification of this case, more and more retaliatory crimes were committed from Eric Schmidt, Sebastian Thrun and Gabriele Scheler's side, which is highlighted by the killing of this innocent Stanford student May Zhou and an unsuccessful plotted murder on me, and I bet more would come if this case remain unclarified as it is now
So the point at this time is, who is this officer, namely VVV, in charge of Gabriele Scheler's accusation of sexual assault? and who had underhandedly made up numerous accustaions against me at authorities trying to intimidate me from clarifying such fascism criminal cases, and to terrorize authorities from ruling against those fascism criminals
I bet both VVV and ZZZ understand that bringing complications into my life would add credits to those fascism criminals, and that's the trick they have played for years
I am living in cloud of conspiracies for years without an end, conspired to my life by certain malicious officers in the judicial system, particularly officer VVV who's responsible for Gabriele Scheler's case; with VVV and officer RRR, who insist that May Zhou's death was suicide or accident but not a murder, hided their identity from victims as I am, and with their evidience/testimony kept from my eyes, there is no way such series of fascism crimes could be clarified in the judicial system
For years, VVV had gone after everyone in my life to condemn me for not leaving this case behind and not moving on with life, to cheat me for testimony, to frame me in my daily life to make up evidence and to turn my relatiaves and friends to be hostile to me, and which had taken away my basic rights of living as a human being, in order to intimidate me from clarifying such fascism crimes, etc.; but in the end, VVV dare not show me his/her real identity, nor show me any of their testimony and evidence, when I challenge them to bring them on directly to me, as one of the primary victims in this case.
Also, I'd tell whichever officer, especially officer VVV who's in charge of Gabriele Scheler's case, who put me on the "wanted list" that I want you, too. Bring them on directly to me. Let's clarify the whole case with confrontation
Germany in my heart is a big name, well-respected in this world. I believe people from the Great Country of Germany would also agree that such anti-humanity crimes, which had endangered human lives and which are fascism by nauture, would not be tolerated anywhere on this planet. I bet Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel would also agree, wouldn't she?
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Starting from an irrational Germany lady Gabriele Scheler's atrocity crime on Stanford campus, there came a war between fascism and anti-fascism; and at this stage, fascism still prevails in our lives; Eric Schmidt, Sebastian Thrun and Gabriele Scheler are just front figures we could see in this fascism circle, there is a whole pack of fascists behind them.
Gabriele Scheler's campus atrocity on me, by which Sebastian Thrun and Eric Schmidt started a series of fascism crimes, is a simple case with clear evidence and with serious police investigation.
But how come Gabriele Scheler could come back and falsely accuse me for sexual assault to molest my life year after year without an end? How come the judicial officer could made up a sexual assault case against me without interviewing me even once? How could they assist Scheler to terrorize/extort Stanford without even showing me any testimony and evidence of such accusations against me? how could this case still not be clarified in judicial system after eight years? Because the crimes are not only coming from those criminals who had committed such crimes, but also coming from certain malicious officers (e.g. a powerful officer namely ZZZ from Santa Clara DA's Office, and after ZZZ stepped down, another officer YYY, and also officer VVV who's in charge of Gabriele Scheler's case, and very likely officer RRR who insist May Zhou's case is suicide or accident but not murder) who egregiously miscarriage of justice.
Gabriele Scheler had been rude to Japanese and South Korea Scholars (Asians) in the same office before she assaulted me; Sebastian Thrun collateralled with Gabriele Scheler to trap me while played a role in May Zhou's case; Eric Schmidt, for Sebastian Thrun and Gabriele Scheler's sake, had told me "May Zhou is an Asian, police may not even find out who did it ...what if it happened to you?" -- And it did happen as Eric Schmidt predicted that police may not even find out who did it, which is really scary to me
I brought the case to the public because as a human being, anyone has the responsibility to crack down such fascism crimes which includes killing the innocent, conspire life of the victim, terrorize/extort authorities, corruption, miscarriage of justice, discrimination against Asian, etc.
Also, other than Angela Merkel of Germany Chancellor, it seems there exist a power center of anti-authority in Stanford Computer Science department in this fascism circle to support unruly behaviors of Sebastian Thrun's side
Someone (e.g. Sebastian Thrun, Ed Feigenbaum, big donor CCC and more, etc.) from inside of this department had made Stanford Computer Science department play a big role in such series of fascism crimes which is highlighted by the killing of an innocent Stanford student May Zhou as well as an unsuccessful plotted murder on me.
But would anyone from Stanford Computer Science department be willing to live under its shadow of such fascism crimes? or would anyone from this department give moral or spiritual support to such fascists who's misbehavior had caused cold-blooded killing of an innocent student from their own school of Stanford? Can anyone take place of these fascists to clarify their legal responsibilities and face legal consequences of their fascism crimes? Can anyone in this department answer the question: what's the motivation behind May Zhou's death?
For sake of their own fame, Stanford Computer Science department has the responsibility to go after those fascists to make them pay for their crimes
By the way, I saw a serious article about Secretary Hillary Clinton [http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/07/10/on_secretary_clinton], with Eric Schmidt's name in it.
Would that article indicate Eric Schmidt's involvment into such fascism crimes would be sheltered under the power of Hillary Clinton, too? Does that indicate that Hillary Clinton had, in the United States, served as representative and coverage of these in this fascism circle and backed up such fascism crimes?
That's heartbreaking if so, since I have admired the Clintons since I learned their names in the early 1990s
Someone (e.g. Sebastian Thrun, Ed Feigenbaum, big donor CCC and more, etc.) from inside of this department had made Stanford Computer Science department play a big role in such series of fascism crimes which is highlighted by the killing of an innocent Stanford student May Zhou as well as an unsuccessful plotted murder on me.
But would anyone from Stanford Computer Science department be willing to live under its shadow of such fascism crimes? or would anyone from this department give moral or spiritual support to such fascists who's misbehavior had caused cold-blooded killing of an innocent student from their own school of Stanford? Can anyone take place of these fascists to clarify their legal responsibilities and face legal consequences of their fascism crimes? Can anyone in this department answer the question: what's the motivation behind May Zhou's death?
For sake of their own fame, Stanford Computer Science department has the responsibility to go after those fascists to make them pay for their crimes
What I stated is based upon undeniable facts but not on pure thoughts. Obviously, certain malicious officers (e.g. ZZZ, YYY, VVV, RRR) do exist and I believe they had abused their judicial power to further victimize victims in reward to those fascism criminals. Something fishy is going behind. I also believe that, by law, I have the right to request to see the testimony and evidence they used against me along with their real identity, to clarify the case with confronation, and that's what I am reqeusting.
How much credibility would an officer have, if he/she underhandedly made up cases to curse you while hiding their evidence/testimony and their real identities from your eyes?
Germany in my heart is a big name, well-respected in this world. I believe people from the Great Country of Germany would also agree that such anti-humanity crimes, which had endangered human lives and which are fascism by nauture, would not be tolerated anywhere on this planet. I bet Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel would also agree, wouldn't she?