700 pages, 3 weeks, and 50 hours of testimony resulted in Apple being awarded $1.05 billion from Samsung.
What do Samsung do wrong? Specifically, Samsung manufactured its Android phones with the same tapping to zoom, two finger gestures that are used on iPhones. Also, it used the same designs for rounded-corner icons and backgrounds as used on iPhones. Finally, another copied trait was the list or menu scrolls in the iOS and how you see an animation when getting to the bottom of the list. These all have been Apple service-patented, and the Court ruled that Samsung has infringed upon this technology support patent.
How did the Court arrive at its decision? 12 non-tech geeks reviewed 30 Samsung phones and compared them to iPhones. The results were then provided by answering 700 questions.
Are Android and Samsung lost causes now? Due to its popularity, no. The Android has leaned on using iOS features, especially Android 2.3. But, this will give an incentive to release Android 4.1 devices and updates since they will remove any iOS-like features. Samsung will continue making Android phones. They have already appealed the verdict and will go on with the business as usual mentality. The Samsung Galaxy has pushed Samsung to the forefront of smartphones. This series of Android phones is not going anywhere due to the legion of fans and consumers.
My soapbox moment. My thoughts? As per Apple’s side, I’m happy to see their creativity is being protected. Plus, it was smart enough to protect it by patenting it. Why shouldn’t they enjoy the fruits of their labor? They are heads and shoulders above others and this should be reflected. As per Samsung’s side, it may be argued that the whole tech service gadget world has been copied over a million times over to get to the premier state it is in now. Microsoft and Apple have copied each other several hundred times during its continued war of the personal PC world.
I argue that the consumer deserves for others manufacturers to be given the chance to one-up iOS devices. Our world is pretty much open source to a certain degree. How do Apple patents put the kabosh on a couple of borrowed smartphone designs? Was Apple just smart enough to patent just enough of its technology? Or it it just throwing some weight around? Isn’t this monopolistic to corner such a touch screen market technology? What the Court did was give Apple more years of ruling the smartphone world without any competition. Androids are second best and will remain that way for years to come, in large part, due to the recent ruling.
