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Samsung agrees to pay $548 million to Apple for patent infringement
It all began back in 2011. Apple sued Samsung for infringing the company’s patents for things like “multi-touch gestures” and “tap to zoom” capabilities. The next year, a court ruled in Apple’s favor. Apple requested $2.5 billion in damages, but the judge decided that Samsung should pay $1,049,343,540. After an arduous legal battle that has seen many chapters, Samsung has finally agreed to pay a little over half that.
The final figure of $548 million was reached back in May after some protracted courtroom haggling between Samsung and Apple. Now the two companies have released a joint court statement in which Samsung has agreed to pay this amount so long as Apple can provide them with an invoice by the end of the day.
However, the term “final figure” might be a little misleading. Samsung has made it clear that they are reserving the right to reclaim the payment by reimbursement in part or in full depending on the results of any future court rulings. Apple has responded to these claims by asserting that Samsung has no such right in a legal rendition of “no takesies-backsies.”
So it looks like this is something of a false-close on this case. Sure, Samsung is agreeing to pay, but they’re everything but giving up on this. The company is expected to pursue a US Supreme Court review of the patent infringement case, and many are contesting whether or not the patents sought by Apple should have ever been awarded in the first place. If the US Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, we might be looking at a retrial.