A United States Appeals Court has overturned Friday a $120 million verdict versus Samsung. The court has ruled that the South Korea-based company did not infringe Apple's patents.
Reuters reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington said that Samsung had not infringed the "quick links" patent owned by Apple. The court likewise said that the two other patents on the slide-to-unlock and auto-correct functionalities of iPhone were not valid. On top of that, the court said that Apple was responsible for infringing a Samsung patent.
The three judges of the Federal Circuit all disagreed with the findings of the lower court in opposition to Samsung. The Federal Circuit is the top court of the United States focusing on legal battles related to patents.
The ruling of the Federal Circuit goes against the decision made by a federal court in San Jose, California back in 2014. The court ordered Samsung to pay $119.6 million for using patented technology of Apple without the latter's authorization.
Samsung says in its official statement that the court's decision is a "win for consumer choice and puts competition where it belongs – in the marketplace, not in the courtroom."
It adds that the decision is proof that Samsung did not infringe "any of Apple's patents."
Apple's spokeswoman, however, refused to provide a comment regarding the court's decision when asked by Reuters.
In December last year, Samsung was also directed to pay Apple $548.2 million. Samsung, however, has made an appeal to the Supreme Court. The appeal originated from another patent case, in which Samsung was again found to have infringed on patents belonging to Apple.
Bradley Hulbert, a patent lawyer who is based in Chicago, believes that the court's decision implies that Apple "is not invincible and that alternative operating systems are here to stay."
Michael Carrier, a professor at Rutgers Law School, told Reuters that the decision of the Appeals Court demonstrates that the patent wars are not worth it.
