FOXNews.com: Apple Urges Judge to Ban Samsung Galaxy Phones

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Apple Urges Judge to Ban Samsung Galaxy Phones Aug 27th 2012, 23:59 SAN JOSE, Calif. –  Apple Inc. on Monday submitted a list of eight Samsung Electronics Co. products it wants pulled from shelves and banned from the U.S. market. Apple submitted the list after a jury found Samsung copied the iPhone and iPad in creating and marketing the products. SUMMARY THE ISSUE: Apple claimed Samsung's smartphones and computer tablets "slavishly copied" the iPhones and iPads. THE VERDICT: A nine-person jury unanimously ordered Samsung to pay $1 billion. THE FALLOUT: The embarrassment of the verdict is a bigger blow than the financial setback. But will all of Apple's competitors have to redesign their smartphones?  WHAT'S NEXT: Samsung is asking the judge to toss out the verdict. It will appeal to the Supreme Court. Apple will ask the judge to triple the damages to $3 billion. A Sept. 20 hearing will decide these and other issues. The products are: Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S2 AT&T, Galaxy S2, Galaxy S2 T-Mobile, Galaxy S2 Epic 4G, Galaxy S Showcase, Droid Charge and Galaxy Prevail. A judge will decide the issue later. Apple claimed in a sweeping lawsuit that Samsung's smartphones and computer tablets "slavishly copied" the iPhones and iPads. Samsung countered with its own claims that Apple used its wireless technology without proper compensation. A nine-person jury in its verdict last week unanimously agreed with Apple and ordered Samsung to pay $1 billion. Most of the damages were tied to Samsung's smartphones. It rejected Samsung's counterclaims. The award represents about 1.5 percent of Samsung's annual revenue. Analysts said the embarrassment of the verdict is a bigger blow for Samsung than the financial setback. Still, the question remains whether Samsung and other Apple competitors will have to redesign their smartphones to avoid infringing Apple's patents. Most analysts agree the verdict sends a threatening message to device makers like Samsung who use Google's Android operating system. Apple's $1 billion court victory over Samsung poses a lot of questions for consumers. Will Samsung phones still be available for sale? Will they be more expensive? Will owners of existing phones need to worry? 'The trial is evidence of a patent system that is out of control.' - Intellectual property professor Robin Feldman For now, here's what the verdict means for consumers: Q. Was Friday's verdict final? A. No. Samsung is challenging it. First, Samsung will first ask the trial judge to toss the verdict. Then it will appeal to a court in Washington that specializes in patent appeals. Samsung has vowed to take the fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary. Q. If Apple still prevails, will this drive Samsung out of the phone business? A. That's not likely. The verdict doesn't apply outside the U.S. and doesn't apply to the latest Samsung devices either. The $1 billion in damages represents 1.5 percent of Samsung Electronics Co.'s annual revenue. Q. Will this make Samsung phones more expensive? A. Possibly. Samsung may have to pay Apple substantial royalties on each phone. Consumers will likely pay for that somehow, but it may not be noticeable in stores. Phone companies such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless already subsidize each smartphone by hundreds of dollars to get retail prices down to $99 or $199. Q. What does this mean for the Samsung phone I already own? A. This doesn't directly affect phones that have already been sold, even if they are the models that the judge decides to ban. In the long run, it could reduce enthusiasm around Android, the operating system from Google that Samsung uses in the devices in question. That might mean fewer applications for Android from outside parties. That will take years to play out, but could conceivably affect the resale value of your phone. Q. Does this mean Samsung phones will look different in the future? A. Possibly. The jury dinged Samsung's flagship Galaxy line for copying the overall look and feel of the iPhone and for using the stock icons with rounded corners that come with Android. Also at issue was the way Android can tell the difference between the touch of a single finger and several fingers. Samsung might delay some models to give it time to rework their look and feel. Q. What does this mean for other Android phones, such as those from LG Electronics Inc., HTC Corp. and Google's Motorola Mobility? A. Although the ruling applies only to Samsung, it will have an indirect effect on all makers of Android devices. Apple could go after them with arguments similar to the ones used against Samsung. But Friday's ruling is not precedential, meaning that other courts could reach completely different decisions. Most likely, makers of Android phones will take more care to make their phones distinguishable from the iPhone. It's also a standard tactic in patent cases to countersue. In this case, Samsung's patent claims against Apple were thrown out by the court. But Google has been buying up patents and could help other phone makers mount more effective countersuits. Q. What does this mean for Android devices around the world? A. The ruling applies only to the U.S., though Apple and Samsung are waging similar battles in other countries. On the same day Samsung lost in the U.S., it partially won a fight in South Korea. A Seoul court imposed a partial ban on South Korean sales of products from both companies. That verdict didn't affect the latest models either. Q. What does this mean for Apple? A. Analysts say it could help Apple gain market share at the expense of Android phones, if these have to avoid some attractive and easy-to-use features introduced by Apple. Despite being a driving force in phone development since the iPhone was launched in 2007, Apple has only 19 percent of the worldwide smartphone market, according to IDC. The high price of the iPhone keeps it out of the reach of many consumers. Meanwhile, Android phones have 64 percent of the market.

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