After the US Jury awarded a legal victory to Apple over Samsung in the intense patent infringement battle on Friday, Apple CEO Tim Cook sent a memo to Apple employees. Known to not like litigation, Cook said, “We chose legal action very reluctantly and only after repeatedly asking Samsung to stop copying out work.”
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Cook’s memo reflected very much similar sentiments to Apple’s official statement – “The lawsuits between Apple and Samsung were about much more than patents or money. They were about values. At Apple, we value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on earth. We make these products to delight our customers, not for our competitors to flagrantly copy.”
Here’s Tim Cook’s full memo from 9to5Mac:
[note color=”#fffde1″]
Today was an important day for Apple and for innovators everywhere.
Many of you have been closely following the trial against Samsung in San Jose for the past few weeks. We chose legal action very reluctantly and only after repeatedly asking Samsung to stop copying our work. For us this lawsuit has always been about something much more important than patents or money. It’s about values. We value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on earth. And we do this to delight our customers, not for competitors to flagrantly copy.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the jury who invested their time in listening to our story. We were thrilled to finally have the opportunity to tell it. The mountain of evidence presented during the trial showed that Samsung’s copying went far deeper than we knew.
The jury has now spoken. We applaud them for finding Samsung’s behavior willful and for sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn’t right.
I am very proud of the work that each of you do.
Today, values have won and I hope the whole world listens.
Tim[/note]
The jury in the “tech trial of the century” ruled that Samsung smartphones have infringed on a number of Apple’s core patents and found that the infringement was intentional. Samsung has been asked to pay $1.05 billion in total damages, although this could potentially increase threefold. The jury also threw out Samsung’s claims that Apple infringed on its patents, mostly covering 3G-based applications.
