2012 saw Apple and Samsung embroiled in an ugly battle over copyright infringement. Apple accused the Korean electronics major of stealing the iPhone design and plastering it on its own phones resulting in a loss of millions of dollars.
Samsung refuted these claims, and a pitched battle ensued.
Eventually Samsung was forced to eat humble pie, the court ordered that the company pay $1 billion in damages. Apple justified attacking its vendor (a lot of Samsung’s product go into Apple devices) stating that it had resorted to taking Samsung to court as a last resort.
Samsung may have had to cough up $1 billion fine, but demand for its phones continue to surge, even after Apple debuted its iPhone 5.
It all started when Samsung launched its Galaxy smartphone two years ago.
Apple Founder Steve Jobs, then told Samsung executives at a meeting that he considered the Galaxy S, running on Android operating system, an illegal copy of the iPhone. The meeting did not go well and in 2011, Apple took legal action against Samsung citing patent infringement.
In August 2012, the U.S. jury returned a verdict that was favourable to Apple (it said Samsung violated six patents, which included the pinch-to-zoom gesture to enlarge an image) and awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages.
Samsung on its part couldn’t believe that Apple should be allowed patent protection on simple feature and design elements. Samsung however has vowed to keep on fighting. Apple has recently added the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system to an existing lawsuit against Samsung.
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