Court Battle With Samsung Has Cost Apple Over $60 Million in Lawyer Fees

 

Apple and Samsung have been battling over patents in the courts so long it makes the 100 Years War seem like a blink of an eye.  According to Reuters, this fighting has cost Apple over $60 million on their leading attorneys in a California federal court battle.  This battle goes beyond the U.S. and extends globally over their “intellectual properties.”  In the last two years and after two court battles, Samsung was ordered to pay Apple roughly $930 million.  In addition, Apple has now asked U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh to make Samsung pay $15.7 million towards the total those legal bills.  Apple’s attorneys said in its filing:

“Awarding fees to Apple ‘flows quite naturally’ from the jury’s willfulness verdict as well as Samsung’s extensive record of willful, deliberate, and calculated decisions to copy the iPhone, in blatant disregard for Apple’s IP.”

Apple said it has paid Morrison & Foerster law firm approximately $60 million, although that includes a “significant discount” charged to Apple because of their long-term working relationship with the company.  These fees do not include other attorneys that have billed less than $100,000 or the $2 million it owes another outside firm, WilmerHale.

Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller, who recently took the stand told the court that Samsung’s Galaxy S series flat out copied their iPhone, so much so, that consumers were confused when they were confronted with both devices and those consumers now question Apple’s ability to be an innovator – and this man was under oath?

This copying the design or look has always bothered me – ALL mainstream smartphones that I know of are a rectangle, and common sense would tell you that the corners would be slightly round (a safety concern)…that takes care of the main shape. Apple claims the icons look like theirs and are placed the same on the screen? How many ways can you make a symbol that looks like a telephone, or a message, or piece of email, or contact, etc.? And if you were to place these on the screen, would not a grid be the most efficient use of space? Android allows us to configure our displays or home screens exactly like we want them to look – how is this the same rigid affair that Apple uses? And Samsung is robbing Apple of their customer’s perception that they are no longer innovative.

These court battles will not be over anytime soon, and Phil can whine all he wants, but that makes the public perception of him rather childish.