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Apple Wins $120 Million From Samsung In Slide-To-Unlock Patent Battle (theverge.com)

Apple has finally claimed victory over Samsung to the count of $120 million. "The Supreme Court said today that it wouldn't hear an appeal of the patent infringement case, first decided in 2014, which has been bouncing through appeals courts in the years since," reports The Verge. From the report: The case revolved around Apple's famous slide-to-unlock patent and, among others, its less-famous quick links patent, which covered software that automatically turned information like a phone number into a tappable link. Samsung was found to have infringed both patents. The ruling was overturned almost two years later, and then reinstated once again less than a year after that. From there, Samsung appealed to the Supreme Court, which is where the case met its end today. Naturally, Samsung isn't pleased with the outcome. "Our argument was supported by many who believed that the Court should hear the case to reinstate fair standards that promote innovation and prevent abuse of the patent system," a Samsung representative said in a statement. The company also said the ruling would let Apple "unjustly profit" from an invalid patent.

2 of 72 comments (clear)

  1. wasn't there's to start with by arbiter1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apple wasn't first to come up with slide to unlock, there was a Microsoft product that had it years before apple stole and it patented it as their own. Hence in some countries the patent is been voided.

    1. Re:wasn't there's to start with by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Apple's slide-to-lock application was rejected many, many times until it was re-written so that the "innovation" claim was "continuously holding your finger down while sliding". Its a bad joke in a broken system.