Apple vs. Samsung – Pyrrhic victory.

Victory costs Apple most of the value of its IP.

• Apple has won a finding of infringement by some of Samsung’s products but has been awarded just 5.4% of the damages it had asked for.
• This deals a devastating blow to the perceived value of Apple’s IP as this case will be used as a benchmark for future patent litigation.
• The award will not even be enough to cover Apple’s legal costs leaving it far worse off than if it had done nothing.
• Samsung was only found to globally infringe two of the asserted patents (‘647’ quick links and ‘172’ automatic word correction) with mixed results for the others.
• For the Galaxy S3 and Note 2 RFM research indicates that $15bn of revenues are affected upon which Apple has won a pretty paltry 0.8% royalty ($119.6m).
• Apple will now push for a sales ban but even in the extremely unlikely it is granted, it will have no impact on Samsung.
• This is because the Galaxy S3 and Note 2 are obsolete products and no longer ship in the kind of volumes that would make Samsung notice their loss.
• Apple’s post trial comments regarding the wilful stealing of its ideas and copying of its products are without merit as no finding of wilful infringement was found.
• A finding of wilful infringement means that Samsung deliberately infringed on Apple’s IP, an infraction that typically carries triple damages.
• This means that the court ruled that Samsung actually infringed Apple’s patents by accident while creating its user experience, further damaging Apple’s reputation and credibility in my opinion.
• Google, Samsung and the other Android makers are the big winners from this case as Apple has just lost most of its teeth when it comes to enforcing its IP.
• The net result is likely to much less caution on the part of Google / Android makers when designing the user experience and as a result a increase in competition for Apple.
• Now, more than ever Apple needs to deliver unique and superb Digital Life Services that keeps users faithful to its platform as it has utterly failed to keep Android at bay by other means.
• This could just be the event that triggers a global patent agreement between Apple and Samsung as both companies are running massively in the red when it comes to comparing royalties earned against legal costs incurred to achieve them.
• Typically in a patent deadlock an event occurs that weakens one side making it more willing to negotiate and a deal quickly follows.
• My hopes are rising for a deal before the end of this year that will end this pointless tit-for-tat war that has done nothing other than distract these companies from making great products.
• The only ones who will be unhappy to see a deal will be the lawyers who, to date; have been the only winners from this 3 year war.