The epic $1 Billion battle between Apple and Samsung returns to court with Samsung hoping to overturn the court's earlier verdict or reduce the payment sum and Apple hoping to ban the sale of some Samsung handsets.
In August Apple took Samsung to court for copyright issue and the court ruled in favor of Apple asking Samsung to pay the company $1 Billion. The battle returns to court in California today with Samsung hoping to overturn the court's earlier verdict or reduce the payment sum and Apple hoping to ban the sale of some Samsung handsets.
The hearing is crucial for both parties as they both look to secure their position in the $150 billion global market.
"If you think back a few years, who would have foreseen the shrinking market share of players like RIM and Nokia who were such major players?" said Jed Wakefield, an attorney at Fenwick & West. "Patents give you a powerful opportunity to gain an advantage, but only for a limited window. Companies are willing to fight hard in court for that window of opportunity that patents give them."
None of the two companies are looking to back down, no matter how trivial the issue is or how big the legal bills are. "This thing is far from over," said Brian Love, a law professor at Santa Clara University. "Regardless of what happens on Thursday, it doesn't seem like these parties are anywhere near settling things."
Both parties are reported to be worried that if the hearing doesn't go in their favor, it may be used against them in future battles.
"Each party is afraid that if they give up something somewhere, it will end up hurting them against another defendant or in another case in another jurisdiction," Stanford law professor Mark Lemley said.
"Where they arise is in these markets with big, big amounts of money at stake," said Christopher Barry, who researches intellectual property litigation for PricewaterhouseCoopers. "And when there's so much money at stake, companies invest a lot in IP, not only in procuring it, but using it to the best of their advantage."
