Best summary to date (from the bottom of the post in case you missed it)
And Dan Gillmor puts it like this, in The Guardian:
A home-town jury has given Apple the world, or at least the United States, in its campaign to control the smart phone and tablet markets.
Samsung, which decisively lost the highest-profile case to date in Apple's sue-everywhere strategy against the Android operating system, will surely appeal the verdict handed down the San Jose, California, federal court on Friday afternoon. And even if Samsung ultimately has to pay the $1bn judgement, the company can afford it.
But we're likely to see a ban on many mobile devices from Samsung and other manufacturers in the wake of this case, as an emboldened Apple tries to create an unprecedented monopoly. If so, the ultimate loser will be competition in the technology marketplace, with even more power accruing to a company that already has too much....
Crucially, the jury found none of Apple's patents invalid, despite substantial evidence that others anticipated many of the innovations that Apple put together when it released its first iPhone. This is a shame, because Apple's abuse of our out-of-control patent system has given Apple its chief ammunition in its global campaign to destroy Google's Android operating system, which Samsung (and many others) adopted for its smart phones.
I have a soft spot for Windows Phone, because it's clear Microsoft has been trying very hard to catch up. Internet Explorer 9 and 10, for example. They've put a lot of effort into those. Windows 8 was a complete rethinking of user interaction with Windows. And Windows Phone 7 was a complete rethink of Windows Mobile. I hope they get something for their efforts.
The invalidity is the main surprising part. If we accept these patents as valid, it doesn't seem possible to really defend Samsung. (I don't know the full details, but that seems clear.)
But it says something bad about where we're headed when "bouncing" scrolling, black rectangles, and pinching motions are considered legally protectable innovation.
I get so tired if the black rectangle argument. It's completely disingenuous imo. It's not just about black rectangles as Samsung likes to frame the argument; it's a design for a phone. It's not a black rectangle piece of paper or painting or anything else. It's about a mobile device.
The argument needs to be kept in context and if you were with a company that introduced a new device that looked like nothing else on the market at the time, and then a year or so later a lot of other devices started pooping up that looked like it - what would you do? Just say oh well, it's just a rectangle that's obvious and bound to be copied so we'll just let it go..? I don't think so.
I've worked for a well known design company in the past and I know what goes into coming with something (hopefully) original. I've seen people do it. I've also seen them say, hey that's too much like Product X we need to do something more unique and better. Looking across Samsung's cables, headphones, docks, and even stores, they didn't have to consider that. They just took what someone else did and tweaked it (sometimes) a little and put their name on it. The designers I worked with would never have done this. They would have been fired for it as well.
So all in all, the 'black rectangle' argument in my mind is just complete bs. There's a lot of work that goes into designing 'a thing' and Apple took years to come up with the iPhone. Ultimately people noticed and rewarded them. And so has the jury. While our patent system may suck in a lot of ways, this was a big win for design and physical form.
But Samsung didn't copy the entire design, they copied the basic form factor which, as someone else pointed out, was unambiguously not an Apple invention. Sure, Apple made the first popular device with that particular form factor, but they didn't invent it, and therefore it shouldn't qualify for protection, even if something that general can be protected.
Take a look at this. http://www.wallpaper.com/images/98_02032007_prada_f.jpg
The LG Prada phone - released before the original iphone anouchement (though it looks quite a lot like the current 4/4s).
Rectangular, touch screen phones weren't an apple invention. And shouldn't be protected.
>But it says something bad about where we're headed when "bouncing" scrolling, black rectangles, and pinching motions are considered legally protectable innovation.
They aren't. You can't patent features. Jeff Han demonstrated pinch-to-zoom around the same time the iPhone was announced. His method was completely different. Thus he and Apple could both patent their methods (presuming they both meet the other burdens) and thus have patents that you would characterize as "pinch to zoom".
The idea that Apple has a monopoly on features is not correct, it is spin. This is not how patents work.
We're fortunate that a jury saw thru this smokescreen.
And Dan Gillmor puts it like this, in The Guardian: A home-town jury has given Apple the world, or at least the United States, in its campaign to control the smart phone and tablet markets. Samsung, which decisively lost the highest-profile case to date in Apple's sue-everywhere strategy against the Android operating system, will surely appeal the verdict handed down the San Jose, California, federal court on Friday afternoon. And even if Samsung ultimately has to pay the $1bn judgement, the company can afford it.
But we're likely to see a ban on many mobile devices from Samsung and other manufacturers in the wake of this case, as an emboldened Apple tries to create an unprecedented monopoly. If so, the ultimate loser will be competition in the technology marketplace, with even more power accruing to a company that already has too much....
Crucially, the jury found none of Apple's patents invalid, despite substantial evidence that others anticipated many of the innovations that Apple put together when it released its first iPhone. This is a shame, because Apple's abuse of our out-of-control patent system has given Apple its chief ammunition in its global campaign to destroy Google's Android operating system, which Samsung (and many others) adopted for its smart phones.