From InfoWorld: The U.S. Supreme Court is to hear arguments Tuesday in a closely-watched dispute between Samsung Electronics and Apple on the procedure for calculation of damages for the infringement of design patents.
In general terms, a design patent protects the way an article looks, while utility patents address the way an article is used and works, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Some older Samsung smartphones were found by a jury in 2012 to have infringed three design patents related to the look of the iPhone, including its face and rounded bezel design, and the icon layout on the home screen.
Samsung is questioning an appeals court's interpretation that it has to pay as damages all the profits from the sale of infringing products, claiming that the patented designs are only minor features of the product. A number of tech companies, trade groups and legal experts are supporting Samsung on this issue, as they hold that an adverse outcome could have implications on innovation.
The interpretation of the relevant statute by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit "effectively grants exclusive rights over a device covered by tens of thousands of utility patents, even though the 'discovery' covered by the patent-in-suit is an ornamental feature," technology industry group Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) wrote in a 'friend-of-the-court' brief in January.
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