Bass, Berry & Sims intellectual property attorney Janelle Waack was quoted in an article about the Supreme Court’s decision on the long-standing patent infringement dispute between Apple and Samsung. At issue was how much Samsung owed to Apple for design patent infringement and whether compensation was owed based on total profits from sale of smart phones or only the portion attributed to design components like the screen and cover. A lower court had earlier ruled that Samsung owed Apple compensation of $400 million based on total profits. The Supreme Court reversed that decision and found damages for design patent infringement of multicomponent products can be based on components instead of the whole product, even where the components are not sold separately.
According to Janelle, the Supreme Court decision “removes a threat for technology companies. The products that incorporate technology are not automatically going to get stung with a patent infringement suit that’s going to cost them all of the profits from their product.”
The full article “High Court Sides with Samsung in Patent Dispute with Apple,” was published by the Associated Press on December 6, 2016, and is available in various outlets, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, ABC News and the AP website.
In addition, Janelle was quoted in an article on this same topic in E-Commerce Times, “SCOTUS Scuttles Apple’s Big Samsung Award,” that was published December 7, 2016, which is available online.