CASE STUDY ON APPLE VS SAMSUNG

(legal environment in international business)

Shazia AlamSonali Pandey

INTRODUCTION

In the recent months Apple has accused Samsung of infringing upon a different set of patents in more than 20 proprietary devices

PATENTS INFRINGED UPON Samsung previously aimed its counterclaims at the

iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad 2, the new iPad products, but now, the company is seeking an amendment to this lawsuit that was initially filed in April to include Apple’s iPhone 5.

NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT The ultimate resolution of the conflicts between the

companies will be a cross-licensing agreement with a negligiable exchange of cash.

IMAGES OF INFRINGEMENT

LAWSUIT BODY Since 2011, the two tech moguls have engaged in

quite a tussle over design infringement, Apple has repeatedly accused Samsung of imitating its designs for its various products. While, one cannot deny Samsung's products bears a definite resemblance to the corresponding Apple products, Apple might have taken the issue a little too far by suing the company for $2.5 Billion.

The two companies have been dispute in over 10 countries.

LAWSUIT BODY

Recently, Apple won a huge patent infringement case in California against Samsung. In August,2012, a court ruling said Samsung "willfully infringed" on a number of Apple's patent devices, granting them $1.05 billion.

Throughout the trial, Samsung has maintained that it merely drew inspiration from Apple's designs, while Apple insisted that the company "ripped off" its designs.

LAWSUIT BODY

Samsung filed a case management statement against Apple's latest smartphone, the iPhone 5, for eight patent infringements.

According to a Samsung statement released on WebproNews.com, "Samsung anticipates that it will file, in the near future, a motion to amend its infringement contentions to add the iPhone 5 as an accused product.

LAWSUIT BODY

On September 12, 2012, Apple announced that it will release the iPhone 5 on September 21, 2012. Based on information currently available, Samsung expects that the iPhone 5 will infringe the asserted Samsung patents-in-suit in the same way as the other accused iPhone models.

 

APPLE STATEMENTS Apple released a statement in direct rebuttal to the

South Korean company on Reuters, "It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging."

SAMSUNG POSITION

“We have always preferred to compete in the marketplace with our innovative products, rather than in courtrooms,” Samsung said in a statement to The Verge. “However, Apple continues to take aggressive legal measures that will limit market competition. Under these circumstances, we have little choice but to take the steps necessary to protect our innovations and intellectual property rights.”

Samsung is counter suing Apple for approximately $400 million for damages to reputation and $22 million in royalties.

The jury ruled against all of Samsung's counter claims amounting up to $400 million.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION After months of anticipation the jury finally reached a

verdict in the Apple v. Samsung lawsuit granting Apple Inc. $1 billion for patent infringement.

The jury of nine ruled that Samsung Electronics Co. did in fact "rip off" Apple Inc. by copying the company's revolutionary designs for the computer tablet iPad and iPhone.

The jury decided that the South Korean company should pay $1.05 billion to Apple. 

REFERENCES

• http://www.ibtimes.com/apple-vs-samsung-lawsuit-iphone-5-targeted-ongoing-patent-battle-798883

Stern, J. (2012, 10 02). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/apple-samsung-wages-galaxy-tab-ban-lifted-samsung/story?id=17376176

Thank You