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Apple verdict highlights tech issues
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The youngest juror, a 24-year-old whose favourite court attire was T-shirts bearing the names of rock bands, chose a Beatles sweatshirt for Friday's dramatic unveiling of the $1.05 billion verdict in favour of computer titan Apple Inc. One of the oldest was a retired electrical engineer who, as foreman, signed the unanimous verdict Samsung Electronics Co. copied Apple's patented technology for the iPhone and iPad. Among the other seven jurors were a homemaker, a bicycle shop manager and a U.S. Navy veteran.
The decision Friday by this panel of people from many walks of Silicon Valley life was one experts say could dramatically alter the future of computer tablet and phone design if the verdict stands. But the case is also part of a trend that has accompanied an explosion in the number of patent infringement cases, especially in the technology sector.
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Increasingly these highly complex disputes are being decided by juries, rather than judges, and the juries tend to issue more generous awards for patent violations.
Deliberations in the Apple versus Samsung battle were far more challenging than most. The jury was confronted with hundreds of questions on a 20-page verdict form that was more complicated than a U.S. tax return. They had in the jury room more than two dozen electronic devices at issue, 12 patents to decipher and 109 pages of instructions from the judge on rendering a verdict.
"This case is unmanageable for a jury," Robin Feldman, an intellectual property professor at the University of California Hastings Law School. "There are more than 100 pages of jury instructions. I don't give that much reading to my law students. They can't possible digest it."
Apple filed suit in April 2011, accusing Samsung of essentially selling illegal knockoffs of its popular iPhones and iPads. Apple demanded $2.5 billion in damages and an order barring U.S. sales of the Samsung products in question. Samsung countered with its own claims, accusing Apple of using wireless technology it owned.
The jury rejected Samsung's claims and refused to award Apple the maximum amount demanded, finding fewer Samsung products violated Apple's patent than alleged.
The jury arrived at its verdict after less than three days of deliberations, far swifter than many experts thought in view of the many complex issues.
The foreman, 67-year-old electrical engineer Velvin Hogan, told the San Jose Mercury News the panel was methodical. "We didn't whiz through this," said Hogan. "We took it very seriously."
Although the jurors all promised to weigh the evidence fairly, jury consultant Ellen Brickman said Samsung started out the underdog for several reasons. Apple is based just 10 miles from the courthouse, jurors have a predisposition to side with patent holders and Samsung is a foreign-based company fighting a domestic outfit during tough economic times.
Finally, she noted many Americans view Apple and its late founder Steve Jobs as legendary innovators. "Apple changed the world when it came to computers. Apple changed the world when it came to phones," she said.
Samsung has vowed to fight the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. It will first ask the trial judge to toss the verdict. Failing that, Samsung will appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington D.C., a specialized court that hears nearly all patent appeals.
-- The Associated Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 27, 2012 B7
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