Samsung says Apple's Supreme Court position could encourage abuse of patent system

Posted:
in General Discussion
Preparing for its upcoming battle with Apple at the U.S. Supreme Court, Samsung this week submitted a written argument suggesting that Apple's position could open the door to deep abuses of the American patent system.




It's unfair for Apple to claim all of the profits from infringing Samsung phones rather than a percentage, the filing said according to BuzzFeed News. While several older Samsung devices are accused of copying the iPhone and violating Apple patents, lawyers noted that important portions of them used patented Samsung concepts.

If Apple's position is allowed to reign, patent-holding entities could exploit any perceived patent infringement to collect all of the profits from a company's product, Samsung said. This would "open up new frontiers of litigation that would stifle the very innovation that the patent system seeks to encourage," the company wrote.

It also used the analogy of a car, pointing out that an automaker that copied someone else's cupholder could theoretically be compelled to hand over profits from the entire vehicle.

On Samsung's side are companies like Dell, Google, Facebook, and eBay, which joined in an amicus brief. Apple has recruited its own support however, such as an assortment of design professionals.

Apple and Samsung are scheduled to go the Supreme Court on Oct. 11, and perhaps finally resolve a court case that began in 2011. Samsung was eventually ordered to pay Apple $548 million in damages, but some $399 million of that was based on the total profits from infringing phones. If the court is sympathetic to Samsung, the amount owed could drop substantially.
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 28
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Hypocrisy abounds on all sides when it involves money.
    calidws-2
  • Reply 2 of 28
    Screw Samsung and the exploding battery they rode in on.
    igorskycali[Deleted User]biglolliverelectrotechmwhiteboltsfan17lmagoo
  • Reply 3 of 28
    Screw Samsung and the exploding battery they rode in on.
    Well played.
    calibigelectrotechlmagoo
  • Reply 4 of 28
    robmrobm Posts: 1,068member
    "This would "open up new frontiers of litigation that would stifle the very innovation that the patent system seeks to encourage," the company wrote."  baarrff 
    Sammy claiming the moral high ground.
    calibigronnelectrotechmwhitelmagoo
  • Reply 5 of 28
    levilevi Posts: 344member
    Abuse or enforcement?
    ronnelectrotech
  • Reply 6 of 28
    Samsung crying about patent abuse. That's rich. 
    SpamSandwichcalibigronnlolliverteejay2012electrotechlmagoofotoformat
  • Reply 7 of 28
    LOL. When you have no R or D, or you're free-riding on someone else's R&D, any patent system will look like 'abuse.'
    viclauyycbigronnlolliverlmagoo
  • Reply 8 of 28
    Funny they mention a cup holder; the problem is using their analogy they copied the look of the entire car. If someone mistakes your product for someone else's product you should have give up all profits. 
    caliviclauyycbigronnlolliverelectrotechlmagoojony0propod
  • Reply 9 of 28
    I hope the Supreme Court will issue a message to Asian companies that wholesale copying will not stand. It may be part of some Asian cultures to think that such copying is merely using 'best standards' but that is not our culture. They need to reflect on this. I suspect Samsung really does know it is stealing and hopes to continue until they are stopped. Samsung has copied design from more than just Apple. Ask Dyson how they feel. What is the point of doing R&D if you cannot get even a brief advantage in the marketplace?
    viclauyycbigronnlollivermacseekerDeelronjony0
  • Reply 10 of 28
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    The patent abusers are crying about patent abuse? Wtf?
    ronnteejay2012electrotechlmagoo
  • Reply 11 of 28
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,927member
    Hey Sammy, maybe you shouldn't have violated Apple's patents in the first place. 
    palominebigronnlollivermacseeker
  • Reply 12 of 28
    palomine said:
    I hope the Supreme Court will issue a message to Asian companies that wholesale copying will not stand. It may be part of some Asian cultures to think that such copying is merely using 'best standards' but that is not our culture. They need to reflect on this. I suspect Samsung really does know it is stealing and hopes to continue until they are stopped. Samsung has copied design from more than just Apple. Ask Dyson how they feel. What is the point of doing R&D if you cannot get even a brief advantage in the marketplace?
    As a Chinese, I can not agree more
    bigronnmwhiteDeelronSpamSandwich
  • Reply 13 of 28
    gerard said:
    Funny they mention a cup holder; the problem is using their analogy they copied the look of the entire car. If someone mistakes your product for someone else's product you should have give up all profits. 
    THIS. great post!
    bigronn
  • Reply 14 of 28
    spice-boyspice-boy Posts: 1,450member
    A copied "cup holder" in a car is hardly the same the entire exterior of the car which their copy cat phones were of the iPhone. Most cars look quite similar today, so do phones however it wasn't always that way. 
    bigronn
  • Reply 15 of 28
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member
    You can't blame Samsung for trying.
    The closer the Samsung iPhone looks to the real Apple iPhone, the better the Samsung iPhone sells.
    bigronnjony0
  • Reply 16 of 28
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    Not Apple's fault Samsung did not make any profits on their copied products. Claiming that Apple can not take all of their profits for the product they infringed is not apple concerns Samsung should realize they may need to pay. But they can not even begin to argue they would put out of business over this. The court need to decide this on this case along and not consider the extension of this case which is what Samsung is hoping for.
  • Reply 17 of 28
    The patent system itself has already enabled great abuses of the patent system.
  • Reply 18 of 28
    texdeafy said:
    Hey Sammy the... <snip>.
    Stop.

    Racism and vulgar profanity have no place on this forum.

    Thank you.
    pacificfilmcommand_f
  • Reply 19 of 28
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,713member
    The cup holder argument is insulting, demeaning, and obscures the fact that Samsung slavishly copied the entire iPhone. Even if Samsung only copied one feature, who gets to decide the value of said feature and how the feature contributed to buyer purchase decisions? The mere fact that Samsung purposely and knowingly designed and sold a product that was a blatant copy of someone else's product shows an utter disregard for the integrity of the patent system. To now pretend that they are concerned about other companies abusing the same system that they openly violated is laughable. 
    palominefreerangeboredumb
  • Reply 20 of 28
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,929member
    Dear Samsung, if you had not bluntly violated someone's intellectual property than you would not be in this position. And remember, Chinese are ready to exploit others patents to copy without shame and sell cheap to your own country people.That is how one country looses jobs,economy to other country.
    edited September 2016 palomine
Sign In or Register to comment.