Samsung vs Apple: Officials invalidate Apple design patent

The ongoing Apple-Samsung war has witnessed many twists and turns, and here’s a new one. News has it that officials in the US have ruled Apple design patent invalid, according to FOSS Patents .

The patent – D618677 – that brings Apple millions of dollars from Samsung covers the design of the iPhone 3G and was filed in November 2008. However, Apple has relied on a pair of patents filed earlier and don’t sufficiently describe the design patent filed in 2008.

“The U.S. patent office decided that those two original patents didn’t describe the design patented in late 2008 sufficiently enough, and that perhaps that patent should have never been issued to begin with,” points out Macworld.

Not a complete victory, but this should bring some relief to Samsung. It should be noted that Samsung is still fighting the $548 million damages that it owes Apple, largely for infringing the design patent. The court is yet to finalise the date for a new trial.

A report last month said that Samsung has a powerful group of supporters in its fight against Apple including Google, Facebook, eBay, Dell, HP and some other companies who have submitted a ‘friend of the court’ brief supporting Samsung.

According to the document found by Inside Sources , modern technology is made of multiple components and is very complex. If the use of components is based on lawsuits then every company is guilty of infringement. The brief states, “That feature—a result of a few lines out of millions of code—may appear only during a particular use of the product, on one screen display among hundreds. But the panel’s decision could allow the owner of the design patent to receive all profits generated by the product or platform, even if the infringing element was largely insignificant to the user.”

Apple-Samsung have been a part of one of the most watched patent trials. Both sides have engaged in allegations and counter-allegations in courts across the world.