Apple for the day

The BBC has an article by Richard Taylor about the resolution (so far) of Apple v. Samsung:

Samsung has been ordered to pay a hundred and twenty million dollars to Apple for infringing two of its patents. A jury in California delivered its verdict in a federal court in San Jose in the latest lawsuit involving the two tech giants.
Apple had sought two billion dollars at the trial, accusing Samsung of violating patents on smartphone features.
The court also ruled that Apple infringed Samsung's patents, awarding $158,000 in damages. The verdict will probably come as a blow for Apple, which portrayed Samsung as resorting to "the dark side of intentional copying".
The figure would appear to reflect the jury's belief that Apple's settlement claim was unfairly inflated; Samsung argued all along that it should be far lower than the two billion dollars sought, not least because some of the patents were never even incorporated into the iPhone's software.
They say lawyers are the only ones who win patent wars. In this case that could well prove true; with all the mudslinging and embarrassing leaks of internal memos witnessed in the courtroom over the past month, neither company's reputation has been enhanced.
Apple had sought over two billion dollars after accusing Samsung of infringing five of its patents covering functions such as the "slide to unlock" (photo) from its devices.
Samsung denied any wrongdoing and sought six million dollars after arguing Apple had infringed two of its smartphone patents related to camera use and video transmission.
"Though this verdict is large by normal standards, it is hard to view this outcome as much of a victory for Apple,'' said Brian Love, a Santa Clara University law professor. "This amount is less than ten percent of the amount Apple requested, and probably doesn't surpass by too much the amount Apple spent litigating this case.''
This verdict marks the latest legal battle over intellectual property between the world's top two smartphone makers. Apple and Samsung have been fighting patent battles for years and across many countries. Two years ago, a separate jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple nearly a billion dollars after finding it had used Apple technology. That verdict is still being challenged by Samsung.

Rico says there's sure to be an appeal; that's a lot of money, even for Samsung...