Schiller Says Samsung Has ‘Caused People To Question’ Apple Innovations

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Phil-Schiller-iPad-mini

Phil Schiller took to the stand yesterday for the second day of Apple’s latest patent trial with Samsung.

Schiller mostly rehashed the same defense he used when the two companies met in court last November, also over a patent dispute — namely that Apple was the company which took the risk developing the iPhone, and that Samsung’s copying has hurt the company.

“I believe it has caused damage for Apple in the marketplace,” Schiller said. “It has caused people to question some of the innovations we’ve created and Apple’s role as the innovator. That challenge is made harder in the copying.”

He also referred to the iPad as a “bet the company” product, but evaded questions about the five patents involved with the current court case — saying “That’s not my area of expertise” when asked about particular patent claims.

Seven patents are involved in the current court case, including unlocking touch-screens using gestures, automatically correcting words being typed, retrieving data sought by users, and performing actions on found data — such as making a call after coming up with a phone number. Because U.S. patent litigation is slow, the trial concerns 2012 and pre-2012 patents.

The previous Apple vs. Samsung trial ended with a jury deciding that Samsung owed Apple more than $1 billion in damaging for infringing on patents — although this number was later trimmed to $929 million.

Should Apple emerge victorious this time it could result in an even larger amount of damages awarded. Apple is reportedly demanding Samsung pay a hefty $40 royalty for each allegedly infringing device. This would mean that total damages could be in excess of five times the amount sought in previous trials.

Source: Cnet

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