Some of the top fashion designers from around the world are coming together to support Apple in its long-running design patent battle with Samsung.
We recently wrote about the smartphone war happening between Apple and Samsung over Samsung’s alleged design imitation. This case is now being taken to the United States Supreme Court where, in October of 2016, justices will determine how much Samsung will be required to pay Apple.
In 2012, a US jury ruled that Samsung had infringed on Apple patents, specifically: Electrical Device D593,087, dealing with the rectangular front face with rounded corners, Electrical Device D618,677, dealing with the bezel and Electrical Device D604,305, dealing with the 4 by 4 grid of colorful icons. The judgement ordered Samsung to pay Apple $930 million. On Appeal, Samsung was able to get the amount reduced to $548 million due to the reversal of a trademark liability ruling. Since that ruling, Samsung has paid Apple a total of $399 million. Samsung argued that the $399 million penalty they have already paid was excessive because “Apple was ‘entitled to’ those entire profits no matter how little the patented design features contributed to the value of Samsung’s phones”.
More than 100 top designers and industry professionals from around the world including Calvin Klein, Tiffany & Co., Alexander Wang, and Nicolas Ghesquiere of the French group Louis Vuitton, have filed an amicus brief, a legal document from non-litigants with an interest in the outcome of a case, with the United States Supreme Court in support of Apple’s position that infringers of design patents should have to pay the entirety of its profits as damages.
Although these designers do not stand to gain any compensation in the outcome of this case, they argue that they are filing on the basis of “fundamental principles of visual design,” according to the brief. Further, “[t]he history of industrial design and the experience of America’s most profitable industries demonstrate that a product’s visual design becomes the product itself in the mind of consumers. It is the design of a successful product that embodies the consumer’s understanding of and desire to own and interact with it.” Charles Mauro, lead representative of the group, said it “is critical to address the harm caused by design piracy. The total profits rule helps to ensure that designers have the appropriate incentives and rewards to make investments in innovative designs.”
The outcome of this ruling may have a significant impact on the industrial design community and how design patents are used to protect designs in the future.