Patent Office Invalidates iPhone Design Used in Samsung Case

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office earlier this month invalidated an Apple design patent for the original iPhone, giving Samsung a lift in their final appeal to overturn a costly judgement against them. The non-final ruling is regarding a patent known as “D’677,” which covers the design of the rounded-corner iPhone, launched in 2007.


According to FOSS Patents, a blog that focuses on patent news, the USPTO decided that the D’677 patent is “‘not entitled to benefit of the filing date’ of two previous Apple design patent applications because the design at issue was not disclosed” in earlier applications. “As a result, certain prior art is eligible now, and against the background of that additional prior art, the USPTO believes the patent shouldn't have been granted.”


The decision could be significant in the Apple v. Samsung saga because in several cases the Korean tech giant was found to have infringed upon D’677 in the design of several smartphones phones, including the popular Galaxy S line and the Epic 4G Touch.


The battle between the tech giants over patents culminated in 2012 when a court ordered Samsung to pay Apple $930 million for infringing on a small number of iPhone-related design and utility patents. That amount was later reduced to $382 million, but the court upheld an order for Samsung to pay the "total profit" of the value of sold phones, and not just the value of the patents. The number that Samsung is now trying to whittle down in court is $548 million.