It’s a big win for Samsung against Apple in iPhone patent battle

The latest ruling in the legal design patent war between Samsung and Apple is that the South-Korean company may not have to give away $399 million in profits for infringing on Apple Inc.’s iPhone patent.

The war that started in 2011 between two tech titans for design infringement, or about how much money is reasonable for Samsung to pay for the infringement, could have cost Samsung $399 million.

The U.S. Supreme Court 8-0 ruling, in favour of Samsung written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor declared that the patent infringement for an element of a design should be treated differently from the infringement of an entire design.

With the latest decision, Samsung also has a chance to get back some of the amount paid to Apple so far. The case will now land in the lower courts who will try to reach a reimbursement amount that is fair to all the parties.

In 2011, when Apple sued Samsung for copying iPhone’s trademarked appearance and using them in its own Galaxy devices, the South Korean company was ordered to pay Apple $930 million in damages. However, when Samsung appealed against the decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that iPhone’s appearance was not something that could be protected by trademarks. Hence, it then ordered the company to pay a reduced indemnity of around $548 million to Apple.

Since then Samsung has been seeking to get the damages further reduced. After paying out the $548 million sum to Apple in December, the company knocked on Supreme Court’s doors with a claim that element like external design and UI were only marginally responsible for its product’s success.

Therefore, the South Korean shouldn’t be held liable to hand over all the profits it made from selling the said devices.

The Supreme Court apparently agreed and has given Samsung a chance to recover as much as $399 million from the $548 million it paid Apple last year.

Though 2016 had been a rough year for the Korean giant, but it is ending on a good note despite the Samsung Note 7 fiasco.