Apple recently filed a request to the Supreme Court, asking it to reject Samsung's appeal in a patent dispute that the company says is dragging for too long.
In December, Samsung filed the case to the Supreme Court in the hope that the highest American law institution could shed light on design patents' issues. With its December action, Samsung particularly targeted the way in which the law computes compensations.
In a solidarity move, fellow tech names Dell, HP, Facebook and Google filed arguments that back Samsung's appeal in front of the Supreme Court.
Apple already received $548 million from Samsung in the case of patent infringement. However, Samsung claims that due to legal principles, it is determined to fight the verdict. The jury found Samsung guilty of infringing both utility and design patents of iPhone.
Samsung still claims that its design patent is legitimate.
In retort, Apple is satisfied with the legislation that impacts awarding damages in design patents is a closed deal, which the iPhone manufacturer thinks is unworthy of the Supreme Court's attention.
"Samsung had its day in court [...] and the jury was well-justified in finding that Samsung copied Apple's designs and should pay the damages," Apple says.
In Apple's opinion, the litigation is "legally unexceptional," and the Supreme Court has no strong ground to feed it.
Samsung is obviously not happy with the fact that it paid Apple the sum of $548 million, and the Supreme Court is the last line of defense that could bring the hefty sum back into Samsung's accounts.
Even if it might seem like a desperate last resort, the company's efforts have a broader scope than just recuperating the money from the patent lawsuit.
Samsung thinks that the rejection of the appeal would set a dangerous precedent for the tech industry as a whole.
"Innovation could be diminished [and] competition could be stifled," the company says.
Samsung goes on to say that this type of precedent, which it calls "opportunistic lawsuits," could cause grief throughout the American economy.
In the eventuality that the Supreme Court denies to hear Samsung's case, this could mean the end of a legal war that was set in motion as far back as 2012.
