Apple wins legal assault on Samsung
APPLE has been awarded $1.051 billion in damages after a United States jury determined that Samsung copied critical features of the hugely popular iPhone and iPad.
The verdict - which came much sooner than expected - could lead to an outright ban on sales of key Samsung products and will likely solidify Apple's dominance of the exploding mobile computing market.
A number of companies that sell smartphones based on Google's Android operating system may now face further legal challenges from Apple, a company that is already among the largest and most profitable in business history.
Shares in Apple, which just this week became the biggest company by market value in history, climbed almost 2 per cent to a record high of $US675 in after-hours trade.
The jury deliberated for less than three days before delivering the verdict on seven Apple patent claims and five Samsung patent claims - suggesting that the nine-person panel had little difficulty in concluding that Samsung had copied the iPhone and the iPad.
Read more at ABC news online.
