In a legal battle which doesn’t seem to have any sort of end whatsoever, Apple and Samsung’s brawl for supremacy in the courtroom has taken a new turn as the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has ruled that Apple infringes on Samsung’s patents.
The patent in question relates to how data is encoded and decoded over a cellular network, and ITC has ruled that Apple’s earlier mobile devices, namely the AT&T models of the iPhone 3G, 3GS and 4, along with the original Wi-Fi + cellular iPad and the Wi-Fi + cellular iPad 2 models should be banned from U.S. soil until further notice issued by the court.
Although Apple will appeal to the ruling in the federal court, but we’re certain that this won’t be the end of a battle which Apple and Samsung both have been fighting for a long time.
This isn’t the first time both the companies have found themselves in a fragile situation, either. It was ruled back in court in August of last year that Samsung owes Apple a cool billion dollars in damages for infringing on its utility and design patents, but that billion dollar figure came down significantly over time due to a number of reasons. Due to these series of legal battles, Google had to take a few blows in the process as well, since Samsung’s bread and butter from the mobile space solely comes from Android. The Galaxy Nexus ban in the U.S. last year is a great example of the whole ordeal, a device which Google partnered to build with Samsung and shipped with stock Android.
From a personal point of view, I believe that both companies should accept each other’s market presence. I am not denying the fact that intellectual property shouldn’t be protected, but constant patent trolling and legal battles is getting way too childish in my opinion, and it’s the end user which suffers most in the end.
Late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had a very rigid stance against Android and went as far as calling Google’s OS a “stolen product”. He went as far as saying that he’d go “thermonuclear” if he had to, and said that he would spend every penny from Apple’s account to do right which Google did wrong with Android.
What do you think? Do you believe that this never ending legal battle should come to an end? Or, should Apple and Samsung keep on fighting for their intellectual property and rights? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
Update: Apple has issued a statement regarding ITC’s decision and said that it is “disappointed”, further stating that it will “appeal”, and the decision won’t impact “availability of Apple products in U.S.”, according to CNBC on Twitter.
(Source: ITC)
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