Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Samsung told to pay Apple $290 million

A US jury has ruled Samsung must pay Apple $290m. Telecoms specialist and Warwick Business School Assistant Professor of Strategy Dr Ronald Klingebiel comments:

“There is no end to the smartphone litigation saga. Conventional IP regimes seem to struggle with the industry’s rapid development and maturity. The typical way to patent and protect your intellectual property in the US and other developed economies (lengthy application, multi-year protection, slow legal resolutions) may thus hinder competition more than it fosters it. The on-going court battles between Apple and Samsung are a case in point, but it applies to much of the smartphone industry more generally.
 
“Recent rulings refer to smartphone patents that may at one point have seemed original and innovative but have quickly become the industry standard. It typically takes some time for industries to mature and dominant standards to take hold; the smartphone market has moved from its first true smartphone to mass-market ubiquity of black rectangular touchscreens in just about five years.
 
“In other industries, maturity comes after many patents expire and infringements have been resolved. Not so in smartphones. The result is high barriers to entry in developed economies and ballooning legal budgets for incumbents. Consumers in some regions might be worse off too: higher product prices despite the commoditisation of handsets. It probably also means that they have to wait longer for the next big thing, as technology firms commit fewer resources to innovation in other areas, such as wearable devices, slowing the overall pace of innovation.”
 
To interview Dr Ronald Klingebiel contact Ronald.Klingebiel@wbs.ac.uk, alternatively contact Ashley Potter, Press and PR Officer, +44 (0)24 7657 3967, 44 (0)7733 013264,  Ashley.potter@wbs.ac.uk