Back in 2014, Apple won their lawsuit against Samsung when the California federal court held the Korean electronics giant guilty of copyright infringement on Apple's patents. The court had ordered Samsung to pay a whopping $119.6 million to Apple as compensation. Primarily, Apple had filed for copyright infringement on three patents; quick links, auto-correct and slide-to-unlock. While they did win the patent wars back in 2014, it seems like the tables are turning now.

The appeals court not only has rejected the federal court's verdict, but has also decided that Apple themselves have infringed on one of Samsung's patents! After going through all the information and the entirety of the case, the new verdict is that the technology used by Samsung in their smartphones for the recognition of phone numbers and other such data and turning them into interactive links is actually different from the technology used in quick link. The two other claims of copyright infringement against Samsung were considered to be downright invalid by the court and thus discarded.

Samsung commented on this matter through a spokesperson who considered the verdict to be "a win for consumer choice." Apple on the other hand, had nothing to say on the matter so far. On a side note, Apple is now trying to convince the US Supreme Court to stop Samsung from appealing against a different case which had earlier ended up in Samsung's agreement of paying $548 million in damages.

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In a Chinese court, Samsung has recently been fined for copyright infringement against Huawei's intellectual property. The major patent battle was initiated when the Chinese company sued Samsung by claiming that more than twenty of Samsung's smartphones have violated Huawei's patented graphical arrangement systems. If you are wondering what that means, it basically means that Huawei had exclusive rights to a certain pattern of icon arrangement systems and similar things, but Samsung allegedly used the same techniques in some of their own smartphones, thereby violating the patent. The fine or compensation stands at 80 million yuan/11.6 million USD, which Samsung will now have to pay Huawei as per the decision of the court.

In response to the decision, Samsung had this to say, "We will thoroughly review the court's decision and determine appropriate responses."
Huawei on the other hand was naturally pleased with the court's decision and mentioned that the company "notes the court's decision in this case."

A spokesperson for the Chinese smartphone manufacturer further added the following lines,

"Huawei believes that respecting and protecting the intellectual property of others enables all companies to make a return on our R&D investments."

"We maintain that respect for intellectual property promotes innovation and healthy, sustained growth in the industry."

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Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)