This past week has seen the improbable nearly-complete victory of Apple Computer over Samsung Electronics.  A patent battle between Apple and Samsung (among other Android phone manufacturers, including Motorola Mobility, now a subsidiary of Google) has long been in the works.  When the Apple iPhone was released in June 2007, it was undoubtedly the best smartphone available, borrowing features from earlier platforms (as well as academia) to create an unrivaled experience.  Since then, however, Android has hit the scene, and quickly taking the #1 spot in smartphone operating systems, with over twice the market share of iOS.  Apple, unsurprisingly, has been less than entirely thrilled with this: with only one new phone a year it has been unable to compete on the hardware side (or, increasingly, software side, as the Google Market gets more and more apps) and has resorted to legal battles.

In 1996, Steve Jobs famously said "We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas."  Jobs uttered this quote at a time when Apple's market share had plummeted to an all-time low, and he was desperately hoping to get his company back on a track towards success.

Despite Jobs' endorsement of the theft of intellectual property, he has been unwilling to let his competitors engage in the same sort of business practices that he did.  Apple managed to extort a swipe-to-unlock patent despite prior art, and, more remarkably, a prior patent by Swedish phone manufacturer Neonode.  In a similar vein, Apple has also managed to patent multi-touch features that had been developed by academia two and a half decades prior.

Not content to steal innovations from other companies, Steve Jobs declared that he was willing to go "thermonuclear war" on Android because it was a "stolen product".  Consequently, the past few years have seem a nearly-continuous patent battle between Apple and the largest Android phone manufacturers (Samsung, Motorola, and HTC).  Both sides have scored some relatively small victories in the courts, but it is just recently that we see a victory of unprecedented scale.  A US District court has recently determined that Samsung "slavishly copied" Apple's technology (Apple's words).  The damages?  Samsung is to pay over a billion dollars in fines, and could likely see a great many of its products (including its Galaxy smartphones and tablets) banned in the United States, resulting in billions of dollars in lost sales.

Why does this matter?  For one, should Samsung's products be banned, it would considerably narrow the field of smartphones.  Samsung has produced some of the most feature-filled phones available, and the loss of that option is a major blow to consumers.  Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, the loss of Samsung as a viable competitor in the United States could lead to the further rise of smartphone prices.  Apple's products are already famously expensive.  Perhaps more damning, however, the Courts have effectively legitimized the patenting of already-existing technologies and frivolous lawsuits.  As companies have to devote more and more money to legal battles, consumers are likely to charged more.  Furthermore, many companies may be afraid of stepping on the toes of others, and will consequently be less willing to pursue new technologies.

Regardless of whether you prefer iPhones or Android phones, you should recognize the damage done by this lawsuit.