SUPREME COURT SIDES WITH SAMSUNG OVER APPLE IN PENALTY PAYMENTS FOR PATENTS VIOLATIONS: Ruling was 8-0. Note this is a partial victory for Samsung. Samsung still violated Apple patents.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously reversed and remanded a lower court’s ruling that said Samsung must pay Apple $399 million as a penalty for infringing on its smartphone patents.

UPDATE: Here’s Reuters with more details:

The decision gives Samsung another chance to try to get back a big chunk of the money it paid Apple in December following a 2012 jury verdict that it infringed Apple’s iPhone patents and mimicked its distinctive appearance in making the Galaxy and other competing devices.

The court held that a patent violator does not always have to fork over its entire profits from the sales of products using stolen designs, if the designs covered only certain components and not the whole thing.

The ruling followed a ferocious legal battle between the world’s top two smartphone manufacturers that began in 2011 when Apple sued Samsung, asserting that its rival stole its technology and the iPhone’s trademarked appearance. It was one of the most closely watched patent cases to come before the top U.S. court in recent years.

Core issue:

The legal dispute centered on whether the term “article of manufacture” in U.S. patent law should be interpreted as a finished product in its entirety, or merely a component in a complex product.

Historical note:

Design patent fights very rarely reach the Supreme Court. It had not heard such a case in more than 120 years