Apple and Samsung go head to head in fight that could reshape patent law
Grover Cleveland was president the last time the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case on design patents, but Apple and Samsung forced the issue around 130 years later on Tuesday, when design patent law was again brought before the highest court in the land.
In one corner is Apple, maker of the iPhone, whose executives believe Samsung owes them several hundred million dollars for copying elements of the iPhones' design and implementing them in older Samsung phones.
In the other corner is Samsung, who has already paid the $548 million fine but is looking for $399 million of its money back.
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The company is not refuting whether or not they copied some of Apple's design elements, including the iPhone's rounded edges, screen and the way in which apps are arranged.
But Samsung's fine amounted to the total profit of several of its phones, which the company believes is unfair. Samsung did not copy the entirety of the iPhone, so it's arguing for a reduced fine.
Samsung will argue that customers buy phones for function more than they do for design. Apple is arguing that, when it comes to selling products, design is everything.
The Supreme Court will decide just how much a product design is worth.
The arguments in court could sound a bit silly, given they're based on a law that was only enacted around a decade after the phone was invented in 1876.
Back then, the Supreme Court was haggling over carpets.
Carpet companies near the end of the 19th century got heated after designs were -- in their opinion -- ripped off by a couple of rogue designers named James and John Dobson.
The Supreme Court ruled in 1885 that the companies had indeed been ripped off, but that they were entitled to only six cents apiece for their troubles.
Two years later, the law was changed to emphasize the importance of design to customers looking to buy a product, warding off future designers who would do little but copy the work of others.
Samsung, then, is likely to argue that the quality of carpet plays more than a menial role in why a customer purchases it, just like the function of a phone plays more than a menial role.
Apple is likely to argue something along the lines of "if no one likes the look of the carpet, they'll never know how good it feels to walk on."
Samsung has the backing of huge tech companies Alphabet (Google's parent company) as well as Facebook, HP, Lenovo and Dell, while commercial giants such as Calvin Klein, Adidas, Crocs and Tiffany & Co. back Apple's point of view.
The court will reveal with whom they agree when a decision is handed down in June, 2017.
Topics Apple iPhone Samsung Supreme Court
Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
