Nearly two years after a jury decided that Samsung had infringed on Apple patents and had to pay $120 million in damages, trio of judges has reversed the decision.
A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has overturned the May 2014 decision that awarded $120 million to Apple, saying that Samsung did not infringe on Apple’s “quick links” patent and that its patents covering slide-to-unlock and autocorrect are invalid. The judges didn’t stop there, adding that Apple infringed on one Samsung patent.
Samsung said that it didn’t have an immediate comment on its latest courtroom win, while Apple declined to comment.
While $120 million isn’t much to a major company like Samsung, today’s appeals win is a big deal for the company. Apple and Samsung have been engaged in patent battles since 2011, with each side winning their fair share of legal fights. Today’s decision clears Samsung of violations that it’d previously been declared guilty of and even says that two Apple patents are invalid, giving Samsung some more ammo in its fight against Apple.
