Apple wins $1 billion victory over Samsung

In a verdict that would have warmed the heart of the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, a federal jury handed Apple a resounding legal victory in its bitter patent war with Samsung, ordering the South Korean tech giant to pay more than $1 billion in damages for "willfully" copying the iPhone and iPad.

Legal experts say the jury's finding of willful infringement enables Apple to seek to triple the billion-dollar damage award, already believed to be an unprecedented judgment in a patent trial. The verdict also sends a threatening message to Samsung and other Apple competitors in the mobile-phone and tablet industry that use Google's Android operating system, potentially making it harder for them to compete with Apple in the multibillion-dollar industry. Ticking off one by one the findings in a 20-page verdict, the jury said that a wide range of Samsung smartphones and its Galaxy tablet trampled on Apple's patent rights. The jury in particular found Samsung's Fascinate, Epic 4G and Galaxy S II smartphones were rogue products that warranted more than $100 million each in damages for copying the iPhone, although the panel spared Samsung much punishment for infringing the iPad. At the same time, the jury rejected Samsung's counterclaims that Apple infringed some of its wireless technology patents. Legal experts were quick to say Apple got just about everything it could want from the much-anticipated verdict.