It’s an expensive end to the week for Samsung. A federal jury has returned its damages verdict against the company in a legal dispute with Apple. The result? Samsung will have to pay some $290 million for infringing on Apple patents. That works out to around £180 million.
It took two days of deliberations for the decision to be made. Apple was hopefully to nab some $380 million from the battle, while Samsung reckoned it was more worth $52 million. It’s not easy to work out who the court was in favour of.
“For Apple, this case has always been about more than patents and money,” Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said in a statement. “It has been about innovation and the hard work that goes into inventing products that people love.”
Adding up past legal disputes and damages verdicts, Samsung has now had to pay Apple an astonishing $929 million. Last March Samsung was charged some $599 million and then a further $40.5 million in April.
Even for a giant like Samsung, that’s a troubling amount of money. And Apple isn’t stopping there, with a jury trial set for next March over further patent infringements.
In a word? Ouch.
Source: USA Today