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This article was published on December 4, 2015

Samsung agrees to pay Apple $548 million for copying its iPhone designs


Samsung agrees to pay Apple $548 million for copying its iPhone designs

The smartphone industry is fiercely competitive, and Apple and Samsung are leaders in grappling to be the world’s number one. The two companies have been embroiled in a court case since 2011 when Apple accused Samsung of copying its design of the iPhone.

The dispute came to near-conclusion yesterday evening when the two rivals filed a joint statement with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, which said Samsung agrees to complete its $548 million settlement to Apple.

However, this is part of a bigger $1 billion payment that the South Korean company was ordered to pay in 2012.

The amount was reduced when Samsung appealed it and got split into two parts – $548 million for the technology patents Apple says it copied and $382 million for reportedly copying packaging as well.

Apple’s founder Steve Jobs is quoted in his biography by Walter Isaacson as saying:

I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go to thermonuclear war on this.

And it seems his wish is on the way to being fulfilled, albeit in a less dramatic sense. Samsung has agreed to pay the initial $548 million to Apple within 10 days of receiving an invoice, just four months before the case’s fifth anniversary. The second set of damages will be decided on by a jury in 2016.

➤ Samsung announces payment of $548 million to Apple but reserves right to seek reimbursement [FOSS Patents]

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