Jury orders Samsung to pay Apple US$120m

A US jury has ordered Samsung to pay US$119.6m to Apple, after the South Korean firm was found guilty of infringing two Cupertino patents.

Despite the victory for Apple, many industry experts believe it to be somewhat hollow considering the small amount of damages issued following the month-long trial in California.

With both companies scrapping around the world for three years, the latest round of copyright infringement cases will be seen as frustrating for Apple, who had sought as much as $2.2 billion in compensation.

Add up the millions spent on litigating the case alone, and $119.6m almost pales into nothingness.

“We are grateful to the jury and the court for their service,” an Apple spokesperson said following the ruling.

“Today’s ruling reinforces what courts around the world have already found: that Samsung wilfully stole our ideas and copied our products.

“We are fighting to defend the hard work that goes into beloved products like the iPhone, which our employees devote their lives to designing and delivering for our customers.”

The latest case involves five Apple patents, covering iPhone features such as slide-to-unlock and universal search technology.

Following the case, the jury decided that all Samsung devices in the trial infringed on Apple’s “quick links” patent, while some also infringed on the company’s “slide to unlock” patent.

On the other hand, the jury found that Apple had infringed one of Samsung's patents in creating the iPhone 4 and 5, awarding the company $158,400 despite Samsung seeking as much as $6m.