With Samsung having already issued a public statement following the $1 billion verdict against the company in its patent and trade dress dispute with Apple, the company has now published its internal memo to employees about the issue, noting that it will continue to fight on through all available means until it wins its case.
Certainly, we are very disappointed by the verdict at the US District Court for the Northern District of California (NDCA), and it is regrettable that the verdict has caused concern amongst our employees, as well as our loyal customers.
However, the judge’s final ruling remains, along with a number of other procedures. We will continue to do our utmost until our arguments have been accepted.
The statement also takes a direct stab at Apple in suggesting that it will be impossible to win the "hearts and minds of consumers" by focusing on patent law abuse rather than innovation, as it believes Apple has done.
History has shown there has yet to be a company that has won the hearts and minds of consumers and achieved continuous growth, when its primary means to competition has been the outright abuse of patent law, not the pursuit of innovation.
We trust that the consumers and the market will side with those who prioritize innovation over litigation, and we will prove this beyond doubt.
Reuters also notes that Samsung has filed a motion seeking to overturn the preliminary injunction barring U.S. sales of its Galaxy Tab 10.1. Samsung argues that the jury found no infringement of the design patent cited in the injunction, and thus it is also seeking compensation for the effects of the injunction in requesting that Apple's $2.6 million bond be held. Apple will be arguing that the jury was incorrect in its ruling of non-infringement and that Judge Lucy Koh should overrule that decision.
Top Rated Comments
"Uhm, yes, we copied Apple and were caught red-handed. But don't worry, we have some nifty innovations of our own to bring to the market. We just need three years and several billion dollars in R&D investment first."
And there are many consumers who don’t realize that (last I saw (http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/11/29/as_worlds_most_sued_tech_company_apple_is_forced_to_lawyer_up.html)—new data would be welcome) Apple gets sued more than they sue others, that some suits actually have merits (this one was not about “rectangles”) and that Apple can hardly decide to be the one device maker that rolls over and won’t use the legal system.
But I’m not sure there are any consumers who would see Samsung copying Apple as an example of “innovation,” and who’d want to fight for LESS variety and choice in the market!
To look at the phone and tablet market today—ALL of which, from Android to Microsoft, was inspired by Apple’s revolution and would not be as it is without Apple—and then say Apple’s not an innovator but Samsung/Android are, is just blatantly absurd. (But Microsoft has taken Apple’s path and done something original with it—proof it can be done!)
There is a big difference between looking at other products on the market and copying to such a detail that the products appear identical to consumers which creates confusion in the market place.
And to add to that - Microsoft's willingness to license certain Apple IP in order to continue innovation in the tablet arena speaks mountains as how valid Apple's IP actually is. It would be difficult to argue with anyone who had actually followed the case and read the evidence as presented that the jury should have or could have decided any other way.
Err that document where Samsung shamelessly detailed every little aspect of iOS they wanted to copy because theirs was completely insufficient basically meant its curtains for any of ther arguments.
So then Samsung given you have been found by your own documents to be ripping others off, who exactly is innovating then?