Nine jurors in the Federal Court of the Northern District of Southern California handed Apple Inc. a big victory against Samsung Electronics Co. The jury awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages, found all seven of Apple’s patents valid, found Samsung infringed six of Apple’s patents, and found Apple to not infringe any of Samsung’s five patents.
There are five big winners from this verdict.
Apple
Apple is obviously the big winner. It is not the $1.05 billion damage award, but the ammunition that the verdict provides Apple to keep its competitors at bay.
The verdict will help Apple AAPL strengthen its brand, raise the cost for competitors, and make the moat around Apple products deeper and wider.
Microsoft
Microsoft Corp. MSFT is about to introduce Windows Phone 8 operating system. For details please see Microsoft and Nokia could pre-empt Apple .
Although Apple did not directly litigate against Google Inc. GOOG the real case was against Google Android. Now that it is clear that certain parts of Google Android infringe Apple’s patents, phone manufacturers are likely to be more receptive to Microsoft Windows Phone 8 operating system.
Nokia
Nokia Corp. NOK has tied its fortune to Microsoft Windows phone operating system. Nokia phones look and feel different than Apple iPhone. Nokia does not infringe Apple patents. The verdict gives Nokia a leg up on Android phones.
Research In Motion
Research In Motion RIMM has been left for dead. Now that Android is damaged goods, it opens up two potential opportunities for RIM. First, post-verdict RIM has become a more attractive takeover candidate than before the verdict….Read more at MarketWatch