On Friday, a jury awarded Apple over $1 billion in damages after it was ruled that the Korean high tech company Samsung had infringed on multiple Apple patents in their phones and tablets. This ruling came as the result of a long and grueling patent lawsuit war between the two companies, with both demanding a lot of cash from the other.
Apple CEO Tim Cook sent a company wide employee memo after the ruling was reached. In it he states
“Today was an important day for Apple and for innovators everywhere.
Many of you have been closely following the trial against Samsung in San Jose for the past few weeks. We chose legal action very reluctantly and only after repeatedly asking Samsung to stop copying our work. For us this lawsuit has always been about something much more important than patents or money. It’s about values. We value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on earth. And we do this to delight our customers, not for competitors to flagrantly copy.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the jury who invested their time in listening to our story. We were thrilled to finally have the opportunity to tell it. The mountain of evidence presented during the trial showed that Samsung’s copying went far deeper than we knew.
The jury has now spoken. We applaud them for finding Samsung’s behavior willful and for sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn’t right.
I am very proud of the work that each of you do.
Today, values have won and I hope the whole world listens.
Tim”
Tim Cook reached a land mark this past week as he has reached the end of his first year as Apple CEO. It’s been a good week for Mr. Cook as it was recently announced that he is the CEO of the highest valued company of all time.