Facebook, Others Take Samsung's Side In Apple Patent Case

Apple and Samsung have been fighting a legal battle for a long time now that focuses on Apple alleging that Samsung has violated several of its patents. Samsung now has some industry heavyweights on its side that all have a stake in having Apple lose the court case. Previously the courts ordered Samsung to turn over profits from a few products that the court found infringe on Apple patents.

Facebook, Google, Dell, HP, eBay, and other firms have landed on Samsung's side by asking the courts to review its decision to order Samsung to turn over profits. The coalition of companies issued a "friend of the court" briefing that was field July 1.

That brief warned the US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals that ordering Samsung to turn over all the profits from infringing products that were found to violate design elements copied from Apple would open the entire industry up to massive patent infringement suits. The coalition says that upholding the ruling would threaten and stifle innovation and limit consumer choice.

The companies claim that under the current ruling a smart TV maker containing a component that infringes on a design patent could be forced to turn over all the profit for the entire TV in penalties. In May the court ordered Samsung to pay over half a billion dollars in damages for infringing on Apple design patents. The legal battle rages on.

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