Apple has made public a full statement from CEO Tim Cook on the victory Apple scored earlier this week against Samsung, winning a billion-dollar damages award (which could be tripled under US law to a possible $3 billion) and gaining a clear and unequivocal verdict that Samsung indeed “slavishly copied” Apple’s innovations in many of its devices.
Parts of the statement had been issued earlier by an Apple spokesperson, but in Cook’s memo he says the lawsuit wasn’t about patents or money as much as it was about “values.” He called the victory “an important day for Apple and innovators everywhere” and said that the company brought the suit “very reluctantly and only after repeatedly asking Samsung to stop copying our work.”
The full statement reads as follows:
Team:
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
