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Siding with Samsung, Supreme Court reverses decision on $339 million owed to Apple over iPhone design dispute [U]

[UPDATE: Apple has responded to the news: “The question before the Supreme Court was how to calculate the amount Samsung should pay for their copying. Our case has always been about Samsung’s blatant copying of our ideas, and that was never in dispute. We will continue to protect the years of hard work that has made iPhone the world’s most innovative and beloved product. We remain optimistic that the lower courts will again send a powerful signal that stealing isn’t right.”]

The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Samsung over Apple in the latest chapter of the years-long dispute over iPhone design patents. The decision isn’t totally surprising given some tell-tale signs ahead of today’s announcement, but it does mean that the case will once again continue in a lower court where a new sum for damages owed will be decided.

Before today’s Supreme Court decision, a lower court had decided on $399 million in damages owed to Apple by Samsung over design patent violations regarding early Galaxy smartphones that borrowed heavily from early iPhones.

The Supreme Court’s decision today sides with Samsung’s argument that an “article of manufacture” may be a component of a device but not the whole device. However, the Supreme Court did not make a decision on whether or not Samsung’s design infringements were a component or the entire device.

While the new decision means the $339 million penalty against Samsung to Apple (which started out at $1 billion) is once again up in the air, it’s also true that a lower court will have to revisit this case where a new (possibly lower) amount in damages owed will be expected.

You can read the full nine-page decision below:

[scribd id=333415078 key=key-CfAcatDDhvJVgDwrTmYR mode=scroll]

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