What the Apple-Samsung verdict means to you | Macworld

http://www.macworld.com/article/1168287/what_the_apple_samsung_verdict_means_to_you.html

"In one sense, the verdict against Samsung in its patent contest with Apple isn't that momentous. The damages—a bit north of $1 billion—are less than half of what Apple originally sought.

And that award isn't going to ruin Samsung: The Korean manufacturing giant made a profit of $4.5 billion in the most recent June quarter, 63 percent of which came from its mobile business. So the jury award amounts to about half of one quarter's mobile profit for the company. (Of course, the financial hit could wind up being bigger for Samsung: The judge has the option to triple the damages awarded to Apple.)

Furthermore, of the products that the jury found violated Apple's patents, only the Nexus S 4G and the T-Mobile Galaxy S II are still being sold. Other devices in Samsung's current product line should be safe, thanks to design shifts Samsung made following the Galaxy S II.

Those shifts were most likely defensive, made to protect Samsung against lawsuits like this one, which Apple filed in April 2011. Many of the infringements that the jury cited in Friday's verdict centered on elements of the TouchWiz user-interface that for the most part are no longer used."