Samsung finds support in 27 US professors of law in first Apple lawsuit

Apple may have had a resounding victory in its first lawsuit against Samsung that found the Korean manufacturer guilty of infringing on Apple's iPhone design patents, but it seems not everyone in the US thinks the lawsuit was fair. Apparently, 27 professors of Law in the US have announced that they actually support Samsung in said lawsuit, in a letter sent to the Federal Circuit. The letter makes the case that laws that make the infringer give up all its profits after being found guilty of infringement date back to the 19th century; furthermore, these laws were written with things like carpets in mind, making them all the more irrelevant in the Apple and Samsung lawsuit, which targeted mobile devices.

Basically, while the group of professors isn't saying that Samsung didn't infringe on Apple's design patents (they did, at least on the original Galaxy S), they are trying to make a point that the verdict that ruled Samsung would have to pay Apple US$930 million (1 trillion won) because of the profits Apple invariably lost when Samsung took their design and put it on their own phone is unfair in this day and age. This probably won't get the courts to reassess what Samsung owes Apple, but it goes to show how archaic patent laws are having a negative effect on companies involved in such lawsuits, having to pay up just because another company might have made some profits had their patents not been infringed upon.

Source