Samsung guilty of copying Apple designs

Published:  27 Aug at 9 AM

Samsung has seen its shares drop in value after the electronics firm lost a court battle with Apple which has resulted in a fine of more than $1 billion.

Samsung was found guilty of copying Apple’s designs by a jury in the US. Shares in the South Korean company were down by seven per cent, the heaviest drop since 2008.

The firm has said that it will be challenging the verdict which resulted in a fine of $1.05 billion. Daishin Securities’ John Park said the fine was far heavier than had been expected and that there was now the possibility of a sales ban in the US. This has led many investors to become concerned that Samsung’s revenues might drop.

On 20 September Apple will be back in court to try and secure a ban on the sales of Samsung products in America. Samsung is also likely to be concerned that Apple will now target the Galaxy S3. The smartphone did not feature in the recent trial as the legal teams were concentrating on older products.

A ban on sales of Samsung’s most popular smartphone would almost certainly damage the company’s revenues. A recent trial in South Korea ruled that Samsung and Apple had copied one another’s designs and a court in the UK recently found that Samsung had not in fact copied the Apple designs.