科技資訊:聚焦法庭 Apple VS Samsung

NOT LONG after a jury in the Californian city of San Jose concluded on August 24th that Samsung should pay Apple just over $1 billion in damages for infringing six of the American firm's software and design patents, stills from a year-old sitcom episode, in which a character demonstrates an absurd triangular tablet computer, began recirculating on the internet. The images were being used to poke fun at the jury's ruling that the South Korean firm had copied the shape of Apple's wildly popular iPhone, which (like most) is rectangular with curved corners.

8月24號加州聖何塞的陪審團裁定三星侵犯蘋果公司6項軟件和設計專利，需付給蘋果超過10億美元的賠償金。不久後互聯網廣泛傳播一個已經一歲的情景喜劇劇照：一個角色展示一個可笑的三角形平板電腦。這些劇照被用來取笑陪審團的裁決：三星抄襲了蘋果公司廣受歡迎的常見的長方帶圓角形狀的iPhone。

The titanic tussle between the two giants, which has led to one of the biggest penalties for patent violations in legal history, is far from over. On August 28th Apple said it wanted Lucy Koh, the judge presiding over the case, to ban the sale in America of eight of Samsung's smartphones. Samsung, which is trying to persuade the judge to overturn the jury's overall verdict, said it would "take all necessary measures" to keep its products on sale. Judge Koh has scheduled a hearing for September 20th to review an existing ban on sales in America of a version of Samsung's Galaxy Tab tablet computer. Another hearing is set for December to consider imposing a ban on the phones targeted by Apple.

兩大巨頭間導致法律史上最大的專利侵權處罰的劇烈爭鬥遠沒有結束。8月28號蘋果公司表示希望案件主持法官Lucy Koh禁止8款三星智能手機在美國的銷售。三星試圖說服法官推翻陪審團的整體裁決，表示將採取一切必要措施保證自己產品的銷售。Lucy Koh法官已定於9月20號的聽證會上覆審現有的對三星一版Galaxy Tab平板電腦在美國銷售的禁令。另外一場聽證會在12月考慮對蘋果瞄準的手機實施禁令。

Even if these devices are blocked, the impact on Samsung's bottom line should be modest because a ban will affect older devices, not the firm's snazzy new Galaxy phones. But the case still has big implications for the tech industry, which is facing a tsunami of patent-related lawsuits. It shows how patents covering the look and feel of devices are increasingly being "weaponised" by their holders. It highlights the propensity of juries to award huge damages in intellectual-property disputes. And it will give added ammunition to those who feel that the current system of granting and policing tech patents in America needs to be overhauled.

即使禁售這些設備，對三星的底線並沒有太大影響，因爲禁令只會影響老款設備，並不影響三星華麗的新款Galaxy手機。但此案對於正面臨專利訴訟海嘯的科技行業有重大意義。此案顯示了設備外觀專利正如何越來越被持有者當作武器使用。也突出了在知識產權糾紛中陪審團的鉅額賠償的傾向。也給那些感覺現有批准和監管技術專利的系統需要大修的人補充了彈藥。

The legal battle between Samsung and Apple is also intriguing because the archenemies work closely together. Samsung is one of the biggest suppliers of components such as memory chips for Apple's gadgets. But its phones and tablets, which so far have used Google's Android operating system, compete head-on with Apple's iPhones and iPad tablets. The tension between the two firms has grown as competition in the smartphone arena has intensified (see article). Gartner, a research firm, says that more than half of the smartphones shipped worldwide in the second quarter run on Android. Apple's late boss, Steve Jobs, promised "thermonuclear war" against what he saw as Android's systematic copying of Apple features.

三星和蘋果的法律戰也很有趣的是兩個對手還在緊密合作。三星是比如蘋果裝備內存芯片等組件的的最大供應商之一。但是三星的手機和平板電腦，目前使用google的android系統，與蘋果的iphone和ipad形成正面競爭。隨着智能手機領域的競爭變激烈，兩家公司的緊張也在加劇。研究公司Gartner宣稱第二季度過半數的全球推出的智能手機運行在android系統上。蘋果已故老闆Steve Jobs承諾將向android對蘋果系統性的抄襲發起熱核戰爭。

Samsung has been leading the charge of the Androids. To counter it, Apple has launched a bombardment of lawsuits against its rival around the world, claiming that Samsung's devices breach various patents it holds. On the day that the jury in San Jose delivered its ruling, a court in South Korea hearing a similar case said both firms were guilty of patent violations against the other and banned some of their devices from sale in the country. But since America is the world's largest market for consumer electronics, the Californian ruling will have a far greater impact.

三星一直在領導android行業。爲了對付三星，蘋果在世界各地提出了對他進行訴訟轟炸，聲稱三星的設備違反了蘋果擁有的各項專利。在聖何塞陪審團裁決那天，韓國的一個對類似案件進行聽證的法庭表示兩家公司都對對方犯了專利侵權罪行，禁止他們的某些設備在韓國銷售。但是由於美國是世界最大的消費電子市場，加州的裁決有更巨大的影響。

The jury in San Jose concluded that Samsung had violated several of Apple's utility patents covering things such as bounce-back scrolling, which makes such things as on-screen icons and web pages rebound if swiped too far, and tap-to-zoom functionality, which makes it easy to zero in on, say, an image or a map. It also said the South Korean company had copied the overall look of the iPhone, including the rounded corners of icons, thus breaching several of Apple's design patents. To add insult to injury, the jurors tossed out the South Korean firm's claims that Apple had ripped off some of its own innovations.

聖何塞的陪審團裁決三星侵犯了幾項蘋果應用專利包括比如：畫面跳回滾動，使得比如在滑動太快時屏幕圖標和網頁可以反彈；點擊縮放功能，使得焦點集中在比如圖片或地圖上變得容易。陪審團還宣稱三星抄襲iphone的整體外觀，包括圓角圖標，因此侵犯了數個蘋果設計專利。雪上加霜的是陪審員駁回三星關於蘋果曾經偷竊某些三星自己的創新的聲明。

Samsung and other firms are likely to tweak the design of their devices to avoid further legal bombshells in America. Some patent lawyers say this is as it should be. "In many ways, the system is working well from an economic viewpoint," says Wil Rao of McAndrews, Held & Malloy, a law firm. But other experts worry that design patents in particular are often drawn too broadly and granted too easily.

三星和其他公司可能他們設備的設計，以避免美國的更多地法律訴訟。有些專利律師說這是理所應當的。"從經濟角度看該系統在許多方面都運行良好，"一家律師事務所McAndrews, Held & Malloy的Wil Rao如此說道。但也有專家擔心特別是外觀設計專利，往往界定太寬泛，授權太容易了。

Whopping penalties imposed on patent infringers are also a cause for concern. Some experts blame these on the increased use of juries in patent cases. According to a study published last year by PWC, a consultancy, juries decided an average of 14% of such cases in America in the 1980s; since 2000 that figure has risen to 56%. The problem, says Brian Love, a law professor at Santa Clara University, is that jurors tend to have a gut reaction against patent violators and therefore often award damages that are vastly higher than the economic harm that has been done. Experienced judges tend to see things in a more nuanced light.

對專利侵權的天價罰金也是引起關注的一個原因。一些專家認爲，專利案件的審理越來越多地使用陪審團是其（天價罰金）原因。。根據一家諮詢公司PWC去年發佈的一個報告，在20世界80年代美國平均14%此類案件由陪審團決定，但從2000年以來這個數字上升到56%。Santa Clara University的法律教授Brian Love認爲問題在於陪審員往往對專利侵權者有個直覺反應，因此通常判罰遠高於已造成的經濟損害的賠償金。有經驗的法官往往以一種更精確細緻的見解來看待問題。

A well-known federal judge, Richard Posner, an outspoken critic of America's patent system, has even suggested that the country's Patent and Trademark Office be given the job of hearing patent disputes-and sufficient resources to handle a wider remit. Apple knows Judge Posner all too well. Earlier this year, he dismissed a lawsuit it brought against Motorola Mobility, mocking some of the claims Apple had made about the harm it had suffered. Samsung's lawyers, trying to get the August ruling reversed, will be hoping Judge Koh looks closely at her colleague's findings when battle resumes in San Jose.

著名的聯邦法官Richard Posner，一個對美國專利制度的直言不諱的批評者，甚至建議國家的專利和商標局被賦予聽證專利糾紛的工作以及處理更廣範圍工作的足夠資源。蘋果公司對Posner法官非常瞭解。今年早些時候，他駁回了一起蘋果對摩托羅拉移動的訴訟，拒絕了蘋果提出的關於自己受到損害的索賠。三星的律師們，試圖扭轉8月的裁決，希望在聖何塞法院聽證時Koh法官能審視一下她的同僚的判決。