High-technology companies that have brought innovation to the market also use their innovation to claim their intellectual property rights around the world. In 2011, Apple Inc. started to claim its design patent over Samsung Electronics Company in the Unites States (US) court and the disputes then expanded to more than 50 lawsuits in numerous courts around the world, and became a design patent war. The amount of damages in a US verdict was the largest design patent infringement jury award of all time—US$ 1.05 billion, the amount by which most companies would become bankrupt by a single infringement. A design patent war like Apple versus Samsung lawsuits showed that design patent has seized centre stage of modern battle. In addition, it signified that any company must seriously incorporate design patent issue into its intellectual property portfolio. The dispute also revealed an interesting unclear boundary of design infringement that could impact the level of legal risk for every related industry.
The Test for Analysis of a Design Patent Infringement in the U.S. and its Suggestion given to Us
