Samsung beats US tech giant Apple in patent case

A US appeals court has handed down a verdict in favor of South Korea’s Samsung in a case involving America’s computer tech giant, Apple, after the two companies went through a long patent fight.

The verdict, issued on Friday, overrode a pervious jury verdict, which ordered Samsung to pay USD 119.6 million to the iPhone maker, AFP reported.

After long deliberation, the court’s decision, a copy of which was posted online, ruled that two Apple patents, which were at the center of the case, were not valid.

"We are delighted with the resounding victory from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which found that two of Apple's patents should never have been issued," Samsung said in a statement.

The South Korean company’s statement added, "Today's decision is a win for consumer choice and puts competition back where it belongs -- in the marketplace, not in the courtroom."

Apple had originally filed the lawsuit against Samsung in early 2012, accusing the South Korean consumer electronics giant of violating a set of patents related to smartphones.

Samsung denied that it had done anything illegal and took steps by filing a countersuit in which it said Apple had infringed on some of its patents.

In addition to the court’s final decision, the number of patents involved in the case was gradually trimmed down during the lengthy litigation process.

Three Apple patents and two Samsung patents were at issue in the appeal decision, which was issued on Friday.

Apple had sought to get about USD 2.2 billion from Samsung at the trial, but the jury only awarded the California-based company USD 119.6 million.

The panel of appeals court judges ruled that Samsung had not infringed on one of the Apple patents, while deciding that the remaining two, which involved auto-correct and slide-to-unlock features, were not valid. As a result, and according to a copy of the court’s decision, the panel nullified the jury’s award to Apple.

The appeals court also endorsed the jury's decision ordering Apple to pay Samsung USD 158,500 for infringing one of the South Korean company's patents.

In December, Samsung paid its major rival in the field of smartphones, Apple, just over USD 548 million in a different years-long patent battle in federal court in California. That case has been appealed to the US Supreme Court.

As archrivals, Samsung and Apple, decided in 2014 to drop all patent disputes outside the United States, marking a partial ceasefire in a seemingly relentless legal war between the world's two largest smartphone makers.

The two companies have battled in about a dozen countries, with each side accusing the other of infringing on various patents related to their flagship smartphone and tablet products.

None of the two companies, however, has been able to deliver a knockout blow to the other as a number of court rulings have gone different ways, and the announcement that they agreed to drop all litigation outside the United States suggested a line was finally being drawn.

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