The verdict is in in the patent trial of the century and it’s looking like a big win for Apple, which won a ruling that Samsung has violated Apple patents across a wide range of devices.
In my view there’s no denying the basic principle that a lot of Samsung’s recent Android offerings have basically been copycat versions of iOS products. Whether or not that level of imitation rises to patent infringement under current law is something I’ll leave to the lawyers. But on a policy level, I always come back to the basic point that competition between Apple and Samsung has been good for consumers and the idea that Apple needs to be sheltered from competition in order to create incentives to innovate doesn’t hold water. So a big win for Apple, but if the verdict holds up probably a loss for consumers.
