Following Apple’s decisive victory over Samsung in court yesterday, Apple CEO Tim Cook sent out a corporate memo to Apple employees noting that it was “an important day for Apple and for innovators everywhere.”
Samsung has been ordered by U.S. court to pay Apple over $1 billion in damages after it was ruled that Samsung products infringe on Apple’s design patents.
9to5Mac got its hands on Cook’s internal memo to Apple’s corporate employees after the ruling was announced yesterday:
Today was an important day for Apple and for innovators everywhere.
Many of you have been closely following the trial against Samsung in San Jose for the past few weeks. We chose legal action very reluctantly and only after repeatedly asking Samsung to stop copying our work. For us this lawsuit has always been about something much more important than patents or money. It’s about values. We value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on earth. And we do this to delight our customers, not for competitors to flagrantly copy.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the jury who invested their time in listening to our story. We were thrilled to finally have the opportunity to tell it. The mountain of evidence presented during the trial showed that Samsung’s copying went far deeper than we knew.
The jury has now spoken. We applaud them for finding Samsung’s behavior willful and for sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn’t right.
I am very proud of the work that each of you do.Today, values have won and I hope the whole world listens.
Tim
Much of Cook’s note comes from executive Apple PR spokeswoman Katie Cotton’s public statement to the press:
We are grateful to the jury for their service and for investing the time to listen to our story and we were thrilled to be able to finally tell it. The mountain of evidence presented during the trail showed that Samsung’s copying went far deeper than even we knew. The lawsuits between Apple and Samsung were about much more than patents or money. They were about values. At Apple, we value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on earth. We make these products to delight our customers, not for our competitors to flagrantly copy. We applaud the court for finding Samsung’s behavior willful and for sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn’t right.
Apple’s win yesterday coincidentally happened on Tim Cook’s one-year anniversary as CEO. Winning the most high-profile patent case in history is quite the anniversary gift.
Source: 9to5Mac
Alex Heath is a journalist who works for Tech Insider. He’s the former co-host of The CultCast. He has been quoted by the likes of the BBC, KRON 4 News, and books like “ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation.” He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. If you want to pitch a story, share a tip, or just get in touch, additional contact information is available on his personal site. Follow him on Twitter.
2 responses to “Tim Cook’s Memo To Apple Employees After Victory Over Samsung: “Values Have Won””
Of course Apple won the trial. Anyone with eyes could see that Samsung was trying to be a cheaper version of Apple.
It’s great that Apple won, however, there may be potential to increase prices apple products.