Bite the pillow, we're going in dry: Jury bitch-slaps Samsung with over $1B fine in patent battle with Apple

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Bite the pillow, we’re going in dry: Jury bitch-slaps Samsung with over $1B fine in patent battle with Apple

Samsung found today that you don’t go head to head with most valuable company in the world. At the end of its long-running, Homerian patent battle with Apple, a jury in California found Samsung guilty of willful copyright infringement and shoved a $1 billion fine straight up Samsung’s ass. Apple CEO Tim Cook, after his personal ball washers finished bathing his scrotum in the finest champagne, probably was all like “Don’t mess with the bull, you’re gonna get the horns.”

The jury did not recommend awarding Samsung any money in its counterclaims that Apple had violated some of its patents. The judge and lawyers from both Apple and Samsung continued to discuss the jury forms late Friday afternoon.

“This is a huge win for Apple,” Mark Lemley, a Stanford law professor, said over e-mail. “$1,051,855,000 is just large enough to make it the largest surviving patent verdict in history.” In aftermarket trading, Apple stock jumped more than $12 a share, to more than $675 a share. Samsung said the verdict should be viewed “as a loss for the American consumer.”

“It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices,” the company said in a written statement. “It is unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners, or technology that is being improved every day by Samsung and other companies.

“Consumers have the right to choices, and they know what they are buying when they purchase Samsung products. This is not the final word in this case or in battles being waged in courts and tribunals around the world, some of which have already rejected many of Apple’s claims. Samsung will continue to innovate and offer choices for the consumer.”

Apple praised the court for “sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn’t right.” “The mountain of evidence presented during the trial showed that Samsung’s copying went far deeper than even we knew,” the company said in a statement.

Apple had asked for $2.7 billion in damages, claiming that Samsung “ripped off” its iPad and iPhone designs. Samsung countersued Apple for infringing on five of its patents and asked for $519 million.

A nine-person jury spent just two and a half days puzzling out its final verdict, with weeks of notes and memories of testimony, 109 pages of jury instructions, and boxes of evidence including a collection of contested smartphones and tablets as their guide.

Via