On Monday, in San Jose, CA, a trial will begin between Apple Inc. and Samsung. Both Apple and Samsung are the world’s largest manufacturers of smartphones. However, the world’s most used mobile operating systems are iOS and Android.
Apple claims that Samsung violated five of its software patents. On the other hand, Samsung states that it licensed four out of five of those patents under the Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system. Moreover, both Samsung and Google assert that Google had been working on this particular technology before Apple filed its patents.
This case is a lot more high profile than any previous cases, and it puts Google square in the middle. It involves software used on the iPhone 5 and Samsung’s Galaxy S3. It is so large that Apple wants to receive $2 billion in damages from Samsung.
Yet, this has nothing to do with hardware and everything to do with the operating system, which is why Google is so crucial to this pivotal case. Google’s engineers will be taking the stand to argue against Apple’s statement that the iPhone 5 is completely unique. What makes it even more interesting is Google employee Andy Rubin worked for Apple from 1989 to 1992, and he will be testifying.
Samsung has already paid Apple $930 million in damages for a previous case. Today, Apple wants $40 for every phone sold that violated the patents. Samsung is asking for $7 million, stating that Apple violated two of its patents. It will be intriguing to see if Google’s testimony is enough to save Samsung.