“I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong,” late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is quoted as having said. “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.” According to a top patent attorney at Samsung, however, the patent war will soon end and Apple will have accomplished nothing.
In an interview on Thursday with CNET, Samsung’s outspoken attorney John Quinn said that Apple won’t see a dime from Samsung following the Cupertino, California-based company’s most recent win in court. Though small, Apple was awarded damages last week when a California jury found that several Samsung smartphones infringe multiple Apple patents.
Samsung plans to appeal the $119.6 million award.
“Up to this point, I think Apple really hadn’t given up hope [it] could cripple Android somehow,” Quinn told CNET. “This has got to be the last straw. They’ve got to realize they’re not going to slow Android down by suing people.”
He continued, “They have nothing to show for the hundreds of million of dollars they’ve spent. I’m sure they’re looking for a graceful exit… I’m pretty sure the Apple smartphone wars against Android are a thing with a limited future.”
Regarding Apple having “nothing to show” for its efforts in court, it should be noted that the company was awarded nearly $1 billion in 2012 following its first big U.S. suit against Samsung.
In terms of “destroying” Android, however, Quinn is certainly correct.
