Samsung Takes Patent Suit Against Apple To US Supreme Court

Samsung has decided to take its patent case against fierce rival Apple to the United States Supreme Court. Now, it is up to America’s justices to settle the long standing on court battle between two of the biggest mobile giants in the world right now regarding patents -- that is, if the Supreme Court will consider the case in the first place.

On Monday just this week, the South Korean phone maker had officially filed a request with the Supreme court, asking the country’s highest court to look into and review the rulings made in the series of patent infringement cases that Samsung brought against Apple. The trial had actually ended back in 2012, and resulted to Samsung having to pay Apple the total sum of $548 million.

Now what will happen if the Supreme Court does consider the case? Whatever decision the Supreme Court makes, that ruling is likely to have a domino effect on the tech industry, and will trickle down to each gadget every consumer will buy in the future, including mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. 

As argued by Samsung (and echoed by other Silicon Valley powerhouses such as Google and Facebook). the existing decision of the lower court may have a harmful effect on how future tech products will be introduced in the US market. Specifically, phone and gadget makers will be hesitant to launch new products for fear of being hit with patent infringement lawsuit, like what happened to Samsung. For Apple’s part, it insists that it was just trying to defend its intellectual property (especially that which involved iPhones, the company’s biggest cash cow), like any business would.

Things will not be easy for Samsung for a number of reasons. First of all, it is good to note that the US Supreme Court has not reviewed a lawsuit involving design patents since more than a century ago. The last time it did, the legal proceedings involved a spoon handle, a carpet, a saddle, and a rug. Needless to say, a lot has changed since the 1800s, and designs are more complicated now compared to spoon handles and rugs. 

The original trial between Samsung and Apple is considered one of the most publicized in recent history. Sometimes, it is hard to believe how it got so big, when the legal battle was really just over design patents for a black, rectangular (with rounded corners), front face for a mobile device, plus a design for the bezel, and a colorful grid of 16 icons.