Blog Archives
Apple Winning the Patent Wars Is Great for Innovation
Posted by Kip Light
Yet another take on the decision in the Apple-Samsung broo-hah-hah. Personally, I think the author has been snorting the Apple Kool-Aid waaaaaaaaay, too long.
I said this in August 24, 2011, exactly one year before a US jury declared that Samsung had intentionally copied Apple and then some: “We hope Apple wins the patent wars.” And happily, they did.
Yes, happily. Don’t listen to the obtuse apologists and the blind fandroids of the me-too—this is great news for consumers and technology because it’s the End of the iPhone Era.
There was never much doubt that this would be the outcome of the case. Anyone except its most fierce and partisan advocates, everyone with two eyes can see how blatant and crude these Samsung—and Google—copies are. The emails that showed Samsung’s intent were the final nails in the coffin.
Why the Apple v. Samsung Ruling May Not Hold Up
Posted by Kip Light
Score one for competition if this jury’s verdict is overturned. This is what I absolutely hate about jury trials on technical subjects as complicated as patent infringement. The average person on a jury has no clue how to interpret the law when they start the case and even less of an idea when it comes time to hand down a decision. I still can’t believe Apple even was awarded anything based on their supposition that their customers were too stupid to read the box that a product came in and thought they were buying Apple products, not Samsung. I guess they’ll be suing Sprint stores and Walmart next for imitating Apple Stores. If it didn’t affect competition in the cell phone and tablet market so much, I’d laugh uncontrollably.
Late in the process yesterday at the Apple v. Samsung trial, when the parties and the judge were reviewing the jury verdict form, Samsung noticed that there were, indeed, inconsistencies in the jury’s verdict form, a possibility Samsung anticipated [PDF]. Here’s the jury’s Amended Verdict Form [PDF], amended to fix the mistakes. Here’s the original [PDF]. Here’s the note [PDF] the jury sent to the judge when told to fix the inconsistencies. What are they, they asked? “Please let the jury know,” they wrote in the only note ever sent in their deliberations, “of the inconsistencies we are supposed to deliberate on.”
