News Commentary: Apple’s victory in the lawsuit against Samsung has far-reaching consequences

News Commentary: Apple’s victory in the lawsuit against Samsung has far-reaching consequences Last Friday, a U.S. federal court jury indicted Apple and Samsung...

On Friday, a U.S. federal court jury issued a verdict in the patent lawsuit between Apple and Samsung. The ruling is expected to change the face of the highly competitive mobile phone industry.

This closely watched trial was held in San Jose. Samsung almost completely lost the case and was ordered to pay more than $1 billion in damages. For Samsung, the significance is self-evident. The company must be careful when designing future products to avoid being accused of copying Apple.

Other manufacturers may also become more cautious. Google, which makes Android, the core software operating system for Samsung phones, will obviously feel the impact through its hardware manufacturing partners. However, industry experts say Microsoft, which is preparing to enter the mobile phone market with new software, will be less affected.

Apple has always been the leader in the smartphone market. It defines what a smartphone looks like and how users interact with it. Most of today's popular smartphones are candy bars made of glass and metal, controlled by a touch screen and filled with icons. Consumers are familiar with this format, so mobile phones from different manufacturers tend to have similar appearances and operations.

>The first thing that will be changed may be these similarities. “In the future, companies are going to have to consider how similar they want their products to be to their competitors’ products in terms of shape, size, feel, look and feel, whether their icons are the same or different,” said Robert W. Dickerson Jr., director of the West Coast intellectual property practice at Dickstein Shapiro, a patent law firm that is not involved in the Samsung-Apple case.

Microsoft and its main hardware partner Nokia will at least have it easier. Robert Barr, executive director of the Center for Law and Technology at the University of California Berkeley, said the user interface of Nokia's Windows phones—the icons and other features that users see and touch—look distinctly different from those on the iPhone. As a long-time mobile phone manufacturer, Nokia also has a number of patents to protect itself. Microsoft and Nokia are trying to make a comeback in the smartphone market, and for them, design differentiation can not only give them a clear advantage in the patent war that is sweeping the industry, but also gain a marketing advantage.

However, things will become more difficult for Google and all mobile phone manufacturers using Android software. Android phones are the most common smartphones on the market today. Samsung is the world's largest mobile phone maker and its market share is growing rapidly. A variety of Android phones made by Samsung and other manufacturers can easily outsell Apple's iPhone.

Robert P. Merges, a professor of law and technology at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, said that although this case does not involve Google, Apple has obviously been targeting Android. If other mobile phone manufacturers using Android are afraid that Apple will initiate a lawsuit against them and win the lawsuit, will they give up Android? Megis said, "There are many companies using Android that may face lawsuits in the future, and if the compensation award remains unchanged, the cost for everyone involved in the Android system will increase."

If mobile phone manufacturers switch to less popular systems, such as Windows, or the BlackBerry operating system expected to be released next year, this will give Apple a market advantage. Megis said, "This is not good news for Google. Apple's real goal is the Android ecosystem, the Android world, and everything related to Android. This is its real target."

Translation: Huang Zheng (from the New York Times Chinese website)