A clear winner in Friday's jury verdict in a San Jose
federal court was Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL)’, whose patent ownership claims were
upheld and Samsung liable to pay more than a billion dollars to the company for
having copied the designs of its devices and infringed on its patents.
For Apple, it means that it can proceed with more
confidence in all the other legal cases that it is pursuing against other
handset makers such as LG Electronics, HTC Corp and Motorola Mobility - all on
the same platform of patent violations.
It is also a clear setback for the Korean consumer
electronics giant, which at present enjoys a pre-eminent position as the
biggest seller of smartphones globally.
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Whatever happens in subsequent hearings there is no
doubt that the company will have to rethink its strategy. In fact last Friday
also saw a court in Seoul, South Korea holding both companies - Apple and
Samsung - guilty of patent violations and has immediately imposed a ban on some
of their products.
It is a double whammy for Samsung, especially as the
Seoul verdict comes in its own backyard.
Google Inc(NASDAQ:GOOG), whose Android operating
system runs on most of Samsung’s phones, is likely to get the backlash from
this ruling. Though the company has down played the verdict and has distanced
itself from it, there is no doubt in the minds of analysts that the company has
to come up with some smart solutions if it wants to prevent Apple targeting it
next.
Apple's legal cases against the handset makers - all
of whom are heavily dependent on Android - are seen as a proxy war against
Google, which has been seen as encouraging its equipment partners to copy
Apple's designs.
If Apple is successful in getting a permanent
injunction on Samsung's devices, then American carriers like AT&T, Verizon
and Sprint are also likely to be affected as they all have partnerships with
the Korean company.
RBC's equity research team has suggested buying Nokia
Corporation (ADR)(NYSE:NOK), Microsoft Corporation(NASDAQ:MSFT) and QUALCOMM,
Inc.(NASDAQ:QCOM).
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