Another 'Apple' Success: Tech Giant Wins Lawsuit Against Competitor 'Samsung' for the "Slide to Unlock' Feature

Posted by Staff writer on Sep 21, 2015 06:00 AM EDT

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Apple scored big against Samsung recently not from a sales perspective but rather from a legal perspective. Apple, according to ibnlive, won a lawsuit against its top South Korean competitor, Samsung Electronics. According to the report, the said legal battle between these two tech giants is about the "slide to unlock feature" currently used on touchscreen phones.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit cited that Samsung's infringement indeed caused Apple some loss. In a statement via 9to5mac, the federal court judge stated that;

"Samsung's infringement harmed Apple by causing lost market share and lost downstream sales and by forcing Apple to compete against its own patented invention," the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said[...]The appeals court [ruled that] a California trial court that previously denied Apple's request "abused its discretion when it did not enjoin Samsung's infringement."

This decision regarding Apple's lawsuit for slide to unlock feature of their product was in fact in contrast to the first legal decision ruled by the United States district court for the northern district of California. For in relevance to Apple vs. Samsung legal case, the district court ruled out that Samsung had not intentionally infringed the patent of Apple. This new court ruling is just a half victory for Apple in their pursuit for legal remedies, for the court only granted one of the two remedies that Apples had previously asked. The court in response to the Apple's legal appeal had decided for financial compensation and not for an "injunction forbidding Samsung from continuing to sell devices which infringed its patents."

Experts however believe that even though this ruling is already final, they doubt that it would affect much of Samsung's smartphone sales. For as per market observation, not all Samsung's products do have the "slide to unlock" feature and now most of Samsung smartphone are capable of being unlocked by swiping anywhere.