Designers supported Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during a recent court case concerning the ongoing patent battle between the iPhone maker and Korean electronics manufacturer, Samsung.
More than 100 designers have sided with Apple by signing a recent court brief in its favor. Samsung, on the other hand, has a significant number of Silicon Valley firms supporting it, thus highlighting the growing rift between the two sides. Some of the designers siding with the iPhone maker include Alexander Wang, Paul Smith and Calvin Klein, Tony Chambers and Bentley Motors’ design director. Wallpaper Magazine’s editor-in-chief and the director of industrial design at Parsons School of Design are also in support of Apple.
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2011 claiming that Samsung stole some design and technology aspects from iPhone handsets. Samsung was initially ordered to pay $548 million to its rival but the Korean firm appealed towards the end of 2015 citing that it had minor contributions to a product that was already complex. During the court session on Thursday, designers argued that the appearance of the product creates a certain mental picture for the users thus encouraging them to purchase the handsets. They argued that the similar design represents what users expect from the user experience to the underlying features and functionality.
The designers also argued that a copied design can lead to loss of sales for Apple and thus the need for it to be compensated with the entire profit from the copied device. Samsung has a few heavyweights on its side including Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google which makes the operating system used in Samsung handsets and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) among others. Danielle Meister Cohen, a spokesperson for Samsung stated that failure to reverse the Federal Circuit Decision might lead to the decline of innovation and this will negatively affect the consumers and the economy in general. Samsung also revealed that its appeal over the judicial decision has received support from the US Government and leading patent experts.
