Apple and Samsung have been going back and forth in court for many years now. While Apple has won majority of the cases, Samsung has generally fought back with an appeal. In another victory for Apple, the Supreme Court said today that it will not hear an appeal of the patent infringing case that was first decided in 2014, and has bounced through appeals courts for years ever since.
The case we’re talking about is Apple’s famous slide-to-unlock patent and quick links patent, which covered software that automatically turned information such as a phone number into a tappable link. Samsung was found to have infringed on both of these patents. The decision was later overturned two years later, and then was against reinstated just a year after the overturned decision.
From the last decision, Samsung took things further. They appealed to the Supreme Court, where the case met its final decision today. Samsung, of course, isn’t pleased with the decision. “Our argument was supported by many who believed that the Court should hear the case to reinstate fair standards that promote innovation and prevent abuse of the patent system,” a Samsung representative said in a statement. Samsung added that this ruling will allow Apple to “unjustly profit” from an invalid patent.
Even though this case has reached a ruling, the battle between Samsung and Apple isn’t over. The two companies are still battling it out over the $1 billion win case that Apple was awarded from Samsung. From $1 billion, Samsung has been fighting it where it brought down the damages to $400 million and is further seeking to have the damages reduced.