Samsung may end up coming to Apple's rescue in a lawsuit that is costing Apple a whopping $533 million.
In February, Apple was ordered to pay the money after reportedly infringing on patents owned by a company called Smartflash when Apple developed the iTunes. This week, however, Samsung is being sued over the use of the same technology, and the company has convinced U.S. regulators to review whether or not two patents that Smartflash owns should have been issued to the company in the first place.
"Can Apple put off paying any damages until there's resolution of the Samsung case?" said Justin Oliver, head of Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto's office for patent proceedings. "If it's forced to pay damages, it's very difficult to get that back."
Samsung is being sued over the technology for using it in its Media Hub platform, with Smartflash citing a total of seven patents that Samsung infringes on, all of these having to do with data storage and access systems. Apple and Samsung are collectively in violation of six of these patents.
If the court does end up ruling in favor of Samsung, it will mean that Apple's settlement will be redundant. It's important to note, however, that Samsung is not aiming to help out Apple, but is instead simply saving its own skin. It just so happens that in doing so, it could extend a helping hand to Apple as well.
In fact, it is certainly possible that the court could rule in favor of the two tech giants. In recent times, patent requirements have significantly increased, and it is no longer acceptable for companies to hoard patents without actually using or implementing the use of the patents in some technological way. The reason for this is that the court wants to encourage innovation. Patent hoarding discourages this.
Not only that, but Smartflash actually has quite a history of losing court battles. In fact, before the Apple case, it actually lost every single court battle that it entered, mostly because of the fact that its patents were found to be ineligible. This is great news for Apple and Samsung.
If the case is not dismissed or settled, Samsung will enter court in August, with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reviewing five out of the six patents being used in the Smartflash case. Apple is currently appealing the decision made in February, but it may stretch out proceedings in an attempt to wait for the USPTO's verdict on the patents.
