Copycat Denial
Samsung Electronics is moving to erase its record, requesting to quash the first trial decision of the first lawsuit between Samsung and Apple back in May. On Dec. 5 the Korean IT giant argued, “Samsung didn't copy Apple's design or appearance” at the first hearing for the appellate trial in the ongoing dispute.
In May of this year, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled at the first trial, “23 models of Samsung Electronics violated Apple's intellectual property rights. Samsung should indemnify Apple for US$930 million.”
At that time, the judge said that Samsung violated design patents such as the shape of Apple models, the translucent screen, and rounded corners.
Samsung argued that the judgment of the first trial is wrong because Samsung doesn't have a home button like the iPhone and has a different speaker location. Samsung appealed for unfairness, saying, “It's like taking the sales profits of an entire car just because of infringement of the design of the cupholder in the car.”
Apple responded by saying, “Samsung came up with something that was identical to the iPhone in three months after its market share plunged for two years.”
Apart from this trial, Samsung and Apple are currently undergoing the second trial regarding violation of functional patents. It was decided that Samsung should compensate Apple for US$119.6 million (123 billion won) and Apple should indemnify Samsung for US$158,000 (180 million won) in the first trial of the second lawsuit last May.