Jury awards Apple $1B in Samsung case

A California jury Friday found Samsung infringed Apple smartphone patents, hours after a South Korean court ruled each company infringed the other's patents. The jury in San Jose awarded Apple more than $1 billion in damages after concluding Samsung infringed a series of Apple patents on smartphones and tablet computers, The New York Times reported. The jury found Samsung infringed, at times willfully, physical design and user interface patents, Wired reported. The jury rejected Samsung's claim that Apple patents in question were not valid, Wired said. Apple had sought $2.5 billion in damages. The decision could bring about significant changes in the smartphone and tablet industry, Wired said. However, the jury rejected Apples claim that Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet infringed on physical iPad design patents. In Seoul Friday, the Central District Court ruled that Samsung and Apple infringed on each other's patents, the Yonhap News Agency reported. The court ruled Apple infringed on two of Samsung's five disputed patents, including those for wireless technology, ordering damage payments and a domestic sales ban on patent-infringing products, Yonhap said. The ruling will keep Apple from selling the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPad 1 and 2 in South Korea, although the ban does not include the newest iPhone 4S. In a patent suit filed by Apple claiming Samsung infringed on its design and user interface patents, the court ruled Samsung violated an interface feature, ordering the South Korean company to pay damages and to ban sales of products including the technology, such as the Galaxy S2 phone.