A War of Epic Proportions

There is a war of epic proportion raging in the technology world...The combatants are Samsung and Apple Corp (right now). And Apple decisively won the first battle last Friday in a Federal Court in San Jose, California.

A federal jury ruled that Samsung infringed on patents Apple Corp held for the iPhone and iPad when it developed its popular mobile devices (tablets and phones).

If you think I was exaggerating when I said this was a battle of epic proportion consider this...The jury awarded Apple a staggering $1.05 Billion in damages and the judge has the option of tripling this if he/she deems it appropriate...that would be $3.15 billion!

If you own a smartphone or tablet that runs on either Google's Andriod operating system or Apple's iOS, the information below will fascinate you. Here are samples of some of the questions the jury decided in the Apple vs Samsung case according to information provided by the New York Times:

The question...
Did Samsung infringe on Apple patents with at least one phone or tablet?

Software:
Bounce-back effect when a user tries to scroll beyond the end of a list or image...Jury said YES

Scrolling: pinching and zooming...Jury said YES

Tap-to-zoom and center...Jury said YES

Design
iPhones face and screen and speaker slot...Jury said YES

Shape of the iPhone's face, rounded corners and bezel...Jury said YES

icon arrangement on the home screen....Jury said YES

Tablet design, including the rectangular shape and rounded edges of the iPad...Jury said YES

Wow, a defeat of this magnitude falls in the same category as the Romans leveling Carthage in 149 BC....total and complete.

I'm not an attorney, and I don't know much about patent law, but I do know when a jury awards a company a whooping $1.05 billion for copyright infringement, it IS important.

And there is surely more to come...This is just the first battle. Experts believe Apple's real target is Google, the company that developed the Andriod OS that runs the competing tablets and smartphones. The late Apple CEO, Steve Jobs called Andriod a total rip-off of his iOS mobile operating system.

Google vs Apple! I haven't seen anything like this since Godzilla and King Kong faced off.