Apple vs Samsung: What are those 6 patents

Bangalore,India: Apple has scored a legal victory over Samsung with a Federal jury stating that the Korean company copied some features of the popular iPhone and iPad and awarded the U.S. company $1.051 billion in damages. Here, we look into the six patents that Samsung violated.

1) Patent No. '381 ( Bounce-back )

In the iOS operating system, when you pull down or pull up on a page at its extremity, it will get pulled and then “bounce back” into place. All of the accused Samsung products were deemed to infringe on this patent. Samsung was also found guilty of willful infringement of this patent.

2) Patent No. '915 (Single scroll, pinch to zoom)

This covers the use of a single finger to scroll through a page, and also using two fingers to pinch the screen and zoom in/out. This is a feature that all iPhone users will be familiar with, as it is ubiquitous to the safari browser on the iPhone, where the screen can be pinched to control the zoom level on the web page.

3) Patent No. '163 (Tap to zoom)

On an iOS device, if you tap the screen twice in a row, it will zoom in/out automatically. Eight Samsung devices were judged to have infringed on this patent. They were also found guilt of willfully infringing on the '163 patent.

4) Patent No. '677 (Front of iPhone)

The '677 patent covers the design of the front of the iPhone. While the jury did not find that the Galaxy Ace infringed on this, several other devices including the Galaxy SII and Infuse 4G was deemed to have infringed.

5) Patent No. '087 (Back of iPhone)

The '087 patent covers the design of iPhone's back side. Eight Samsung devices were accused by Apple, but only the Galaxy S, the Galaxy S 4G, and the Samsung Vibrant was found guilty.

6) Patent No. '305 (iPhone's Front Screen)

All 13 Samsung devices accused for infringement of No. '305 ended up being found guilty. This patent concerns the design of the home screen on the iOS and the design of app icons on the home screen. The jury also found Samsung guilty of willfully infringing this patent as well.