Apple vs Samsung legal battle (Photo : Twitter)
Samsung has been granted some reprieve by the Federal Appeals Court that ruled it will have to pay $382 million less in damages to Apple. The South Korean conglomerate is required to pay $930 million as per a court order over charges of patent infringement brought about by Apple.
Apple can still find consolation in that the latest ruling has sought to uphold its key allegations against Samsung, that the latter has indeed infringed upon several of the Cupertino company's patents for use in the South Korean's Galaxy series of smartphones, notably the Galaxy S II and the Droid Charge.
The latest ruling can be considered a fall out of the epic court battle between Apple and Samsung fought in the summer of 2012. The case was vigorously pursued by Apple and had sued Samsung in various courts all around the world but have since decided to pursue the matter only within the U.S.
The latest ruling has rejected Apple's claims that Samsung had copied the 'look and feel' of Apple devices in order to cash in on the huge appeal that Apple's devices enjoy among its consumer base, WSG reported.
The 'trade dress' claims on part of Apple concerned the rounded edges as seen on the then iPhone models - iPhone 4s - as well as the way onscreen icons looked. The appeals court though ruled these have nothing to do with the way the iPhone functioned and hence does not qualify for legal protection as per prevalent trademark laws in the U.S., Android Police mentioned.
The original court ruling of August 2012 had pegged the damage at $1.06 billion but was reduced to $930 as the court referred the case for a retrial.
