The aftermath of the Apple vs. Samsung battle
Abstract
Have you ever wondered who, Apple Inc. or Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., won the battle of IP infringement claims and injunctions for the design of tablets and smartphones? In fact, the battle still continues, and the fierce fight in the courtrooms, has also generated much debate in the IPR committees of certain Standard-Setting Organisations (SSOs) and attracts the attention of competition authorities. Many companies have embraced the increasing value of standardisation. But the benefit for those companies of having their technology become the Standard for the whole industry requires also some commitments to license under terms that support the wide adoption of the Standard. The current debates in the IPR committees of the most relevant SSOs around the definition of Standard-related concepts like “Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory” (FRAND), or the scope of the availability of injunctive relief for infringement claims of FRAND-encumbered Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) is supposed to develop guidelines for all the stakeholders in this complex matter. This paper will analyse the different positions of the parties involved in this stage of the battle.