In an exclusive, Manuel Ilagan, one of the members of the jury that decided the landmark case of Apple vs. Samsung.
According to him, they knew since the first time they deliberated that Apple was the aggrieved party. However, they still took the time to cautiously weigh the cases presented by both sides and engaged in what he describes as “heated” debates, especially about features such as pinch-to-zoom as well as bounce-back. It had helped the jury that their foreman, Velvin Hogan, knew about patents as he himself owned some of these.
What finally led the jury to favor Apple was the evidence that the Cupertino company presented. Among these were internal communications among Samsung executives regarding the South Korean tech giant’s use of Apple features. Furthermore, Apple showed images of the Samsung devices before and after the iPhone was launched. Another evidence that compelled the jury was Samsung’s own assertion that Apple infringed on its 3G technology patents, particularly on a broadband chip. Apple defended itself by proving that they acquired the broadband chip from Intel, with which Samsung had licensed the chip.
The deliberation lasted for 21 hours. It ended with the jury ruling in favor of Apple and granting the company over $1 billion fees in damages. This is lower than the $2.75 billion that Apple had asked for.
It may be recalled that the lawsuit began last year with Apple accusing Samsung of infringing on Apple’s patented design as well as some technologies it uses. On the other hand, Samsung filed a countersuit with the claim that it was Apple, in fact, that infringed their patents and not the other way around. For this countersuit, Samsung had requested $421 million in damages.
The decision from the California court is expected to have a huge impact not only on Apple and Samsung, but also on manufacturers of Android smartphones that carry similar features with the iPhone.
VIA : DROID GUY
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