Let The Best Company Win: Samsung ordered to pay Apple over $1bn for infringing patents

Samsung has been ordered to pay Apple just over $1 billion in damages for infringing software and design patents. The two tech companies have recently been locked in a bitterly contested intellectual property lawsuit, with Apple contesting that the Korean firm copied critical features of its iPhone and iPad. A US jury has now sided with Apple and awarded the company $1.05bn (£665m) in damages, while also rejecting Samsung's own claims that several of its patents had been breached. The jury declared that Samsung was "wilful in its infringement" of Apple's intellectual property, although not all of Apple's claims were upheld. Apple filed its complaint in April 2011 and demanded a colossal $2.5bn from the rival phone maker. Apple alleged at the time that the way Samsung had overtaken it to become the world's largest maker of smartphones was by "copying" its designs, earning Samsung "billions of dollars in profits". In turn, Samsung responded with its own lawsuit seeking $399m from the California-based firm.

The ruling looks set to solidify Apple's dominance in the mobile computing market, and could even lead to an outright sales ban on certain Samsung products. Michael Gartenburg, research director at Gartner, told BBC News that the verdict could have far-reaching consequences for the wider sector. "Apple patents being upheld will force the rest of the industry to both innovation and differentiation," he said. "That will be a good thing for consumers in the long run. Anyone who was even thinking about borrowing a technology or design from Apple will think twice about it now. "Apple's point was that it was possible to create an experience that doesn't look like its designs and only Nokia and RIM Blackberry are really doing that right now." Shares in Apple, which earlier this week was dubbed the most valuable public company of all time, climbed almost 2% to a record high of $675 in after-hours trade.