The long-standing design patent dispute between Apple and Samsung has escalated and the two companies will present their arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, Oct. 11.
This will mark the first time in more than a century that the highest court in the United State handles a design patent case.
Apple and Samsung have been at it for five years, dragging each other through federal courts until finally reaching the Supreme Court to settle their legal battle. Back in March, the justices agreed to hear the case partly to handle how damages should be calculated in design patent disputes. Awards in such cases are currently calculated based on the total profits a device generates.
The world's two largest smartphone makers have been embroiled in a number of patent disputes worldwide for a good while now, but this particular case dates back to 2011 and involves a number of older Samsung smartphones, including the Galaxy SII.
Apple won a nearly $1 billion verdict (which was eventually adjusted to $548 million) and design patents made up roughly $400 million of that verdict. The rest of the sum covered other patent types concerning how devices work as opposed to how they look.
The implications of this ongoing dispute between Apple and Samsung go well beyond monetary damages and old devices that infringe on patents, however. The mere fact that the Supreme Court is taking up a design patent case - its first one in 120 years - testifies to the importance of this case.
Samsung claims that Apple should not be allowed to get all profits Samsung made from infringing devices despite the fact that some parts of the device infringe on Apple's design patents. Nevertheless, the law has worked like this for years, and it remains to be seen whether Samsung manages to obtain a different interpretation.
Apple, for its part, thinks that Samsung's older Android devices were basically iPhone copies, so the iPhone maker is expected to push for retaining the current method of calculating damages.
Both Samsung and Apple have their own heavyweight allies in this case, with high-profile companies taking one side or the other. Samsung, for instance, has Google, HP, Dell, Lenovo and others behind it, while Apple secured more than 100 designers' support.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments from Samsung and Apple and the solicitor general will likely participate in these arguments.
We'll keep you up to date with any new developments as the case unfolds, so stay tuned.
