Samsung to pay Apple $548 M in patent settlement

South Korean electronics maker, Samsung, has been fighting Apple in court since 2011 over a patent dispute and has finally agreed to pay the Cupertino-based company $548 million, which marks the first significant money exchange in a five-year long battle.

Photo courtesy of BBC Technology.

In a filing that took place in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday Dec. 3, Samsung agreed to pay the damages after a court denied the company’s latest appeal in the case. However, Samsung stated it may seek reimbursement from Apple depending on future rulings from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or the U.S. Supreme Court.

Apple first sued Samsung in April 2011, saying the Korean rival stole the design and materials from the iPhone without permission. A jury ruled in favor of Apple in 2012 and required a ransom of $1.05 billion in damages. Samsung agreed to pay approximately half of the amount (represented by this payment) following other numerous legal accounts. In Spring 2016, the two companies will face in San Jose court over an additional $400 million from the original award.

Both Apple and Samsung sued one another in courts around the world after the first filed lawsuit in 2011, but agreed to drop all litigation outside the U.S. last year. Aside from that, Samsung is also appealing a $120 million damage award for violating Apple software patents in a second U.S. trial in 2014.

“While we’ve agreed to pay Apple, we remain confident that our products do not infringe on Apple’s design patents, and we will continue to take all appropriate measures within the legal system to protect our products and our intellectual property,” Samsung spokeswoman Danielle Meister Cohen said.

The court ordered payment for Samsung amounts to less than five days of profit for Apple, which reported $11.1 billion for the quarter that ended Sept. 26. And while Apple has secured monetary judgments against Samsung, it has not received what it truly sought for: a far-reaching ban on sales of certain Samsung phones and tablets.

Source: WSJ