Seoul (dpa) - Samsung Electronics Co will file an appeal against a
U.S. court ruling that awarded Apple Inc more than 1.05 billion dollars
in a patent infringement case, a spokesman said Sunday.
The South Korean company said that if its plan to overturn the
decision by the nine-member jury in a federal court in San Jose,
California, is unsuccessful, it will turn to the appeals court.
On Friday, the court ruled overwhelmingly in Apple's favour,
saying Samsung had infringed on six of seven smartphone patents in
question.
The US lawsuit was one of several cases around the world between
Apple and Samsung over technology rights and innovation in the
fast-growing mobile computing sector.
Apple sued Samsung in April 2011, and Samsung counter-sued. The
companies have also sued each other in Britain, Australia and South
Korea. The California case was the first to go to a US jury.
After the ruling, Samsung said in a statement that the verdict
"should not be viewed as a win for Apple, but as a loss for the
American consumer. It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation,
and potentially higher prices."
Apple had sought 2.75 billion dollars for its claims that Samsung
infringed four design patents and three software patents. Samsung
demanded as much as 421.8 million dollars in royalties for claims
that Apple infringed five patents.
The complexity of the case was compounded by Apple's contention
that nearly two dozen of Samsung's devices violated its patents.
The disputes date to 2010 when Samsung released its Galaxy
smartphones. Apple immediately suspected that Galaxy phones copied
the iPhone, which by then had been on the market for three years.
