Last Friday, Samsung got punched in its collective corporate throat by Apple's legal team and a jury of its peers. Apple chief Tim Cook immediately celebrated... with a memo! Samsung's memo was less fun. Much less fun. But hopeful!
The Samsung memo is pretty much the corporate legal equivalent of Bill Pullman's presidential speech at the end of Independence Day, only less confident and vaguely more sad:
We initially proposed to negotiate with Apple instead of going to court, as they had been one of our most important customers. However, Apple pressed on with a lawsuit, and we have had little choice but to counter-sue, so that we can protect our company.
Certainly, we are very disappointed by the verdict at the US District Court for the Northern District of California (NDCA), and it is regrettable that the verdict has caused concern amongst our employees, as well as our loyal customers.
However, the judge's final ruling remains, along with a number of other procedures. We will continue to do our utmost until our arguments have been accepted.
The NDCA verdict starkly contrasts decisions made by courts in a number of other countries, such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, and Korea, which have previously ruled that we did not copy Apple's designs. These courts also recognized our arguments concerning our standards patents.
History has shown there has yet to be a company that has won the hearts and minds of consumers and achieved continuous growth, when its primary means to competition has been the outright abuse of patent law, not the pursuit of innovation.
We trust that the consumers and the market will side with those who prioritize innovation over litigation, and we will prove this beyond doubt.
We will not go quietly into the night. Samsung's correct in that this thing ain't over yet—legally speaking—but that penultimate paragraph? A little dubious—Apple's never pursued innovation? And bitter! Just start cranking on those hexagonal smartphones and we'll all get through this together, guys. [Samsung]