There is no good and bad: they copied both. It is the verdict of Court of Seoul which this morning declared both Apple and Samsung guilty in the dispute opened by the world's first smartphone seller in his native country. The subject of the dispute was the originality of some patents: according to Samsung, Apple would have copied several of them. But the Korean judiciary said both guilty of the same crime and both companies will no longer be able to sell some smartphone and tablet models in the country and will have to pay the damages.
Apple infringed two Samsung patents related to data transfer technologies. While Samsung allegedly copied a patent on touchscreen functionality. But the most relevant sentence, and which could have repercussions on other disputes open around the world, establishes that Samsung didn't copy the design of the iPhone. “There are many similarities in the design of the iPhone and Galaxy,” said the Korean judge, “but these similarities had already been found in other products. Given the difficulty of differentiating the appearance of touchscreen mobile phone products in general and given that Samsung affixed three buttons on the front and adopted a different design in the camera and on the sides, the two products look different”.
Since last April, the two main global smartphone manufacturers have been suing each other on four different continents, accusing each other of copying products, designs and technologies. It started at the end of July a lawsuit in San José Federal Court in California. Apple accuses Samsung of infringing 4 patents, it expects compensation of between 2,5 and 2,75 billion dollars and obviously hopes that some of its products will be withdrawn from the market. Samsung for its part seeks "only" 421,8 million in royalties which it claims for Apple's infringement of two patents.
