苹果胜诉改变手机行业力量平衡

Apple Inc.'s sweeping court victory over Samsung Electronics Co. cements its dominance of the wireless industry and could force carriers and even Google Inc. to re-evaluate their product plans and strategies.

苹果(Apple Inc.)在与三星(Samsung Electronics Co.)的专利诉讼战中取得决定性胜利，这不仅强化了苹果在手机行业的领先地位，而且可能会迫使一些手机运营商、甚至谷歌公司(Google Inc.)去重新评估自己的产品计划和公司战略。

Interviews with jurors and legal experts reveal that Friday's verdict in the patent dispute did much more than order the South Korean company to pay $1.05 billion to its Silicon Valley rival.

根据上周五的判决，三星需向苹果支付10.5亿美元的赔偿金，但从对陪审团成员和法律专家的采访中可以发现，这一专利诉讼案判决结果的影响远不止于此。

The nine jurors also sent a signal that companies need to be much more careful in incorporating basic design elements in their electronic devices, particularly those affecting the way gadgets look and feel.

九名陪审团成员还释放出一个信号，即企业在为电子设备选择基本设计元素时要加倍小心，尤其要小心那些影响设备外观和手感的设计元素。

Samsung shares opened 6.8% lower Monday in South Korean trading.

三星在韩国交易的股票周一开盘下跌了6.8%。

The verdict, which comes just weeks before Apple is expected to unveil its next iPhone, could complicate matters for wireless carriers already contending with Apple's market power. Apple has reaped more than $156 billion in iPhone-related revenue since 2007 and is now the world's most valuable company.

苹果预计将在这次宣判后的几周里推出下一代iPhone，上述判决结果有可能让无线运营商面临更加复杂的局面，苹果的市场主导力已经让这些运营商苦不堪言。自2007年以来，苹果已经获得了超过1,560亿美元与iPhone有关的收入。苹果目前是全球市值最高的公司。

Patent lawyers predict the jury's decision will likely ratchet up an already heavy flow of patent suits in the tech sector, and could open new ground for litigation. More courtroom warfare could raise costs to makers of smartphones and tablets and reduce the number of gadgets on the market -- increasing prices to consumers, some lawyers and market watchers say.

专利律师预计，陪审团的决定很可能导致科技领域专利诉讼案进一步增多，并为此类诉讼提供新的理由。一些律师和市场观察人士说，专利诉讼案增多将会使智能手机和平板电脑制造商的成本上升，导致市场上这些产品的花色品种减少，使产品售价提高。

More companies are likely to emulate Apple's approach of using the court system to defend the shape and style of their products, said Alan Fisch, an intellectual-property lawyer at Kaye Scholer LLP who isn't involved in the case.

与本案无关的凯寿律师事务所 (Kaye Scholer LLP)的知识产权律师费什(Alan Fisch)说，可能会有更多公司模仿苹果，利用法律武器保护自己产品的外形和设计风格。

During its second day of deliberations, the jury settled a debate over whether Samsung infringed an Apple patent related to on-screen icons by holding up an iPhone and a Samsung phone in the dark to determine whether they appeared similar when the colorful rounded buttons were all that could be seen, recalled juror Manuel Ilagan. He said he also was persuaded by comparisons between Samsung's smartphone designs before and after the iPhone arrived in 2007.

陪审团成员伊莱甘(Manuel Ilagan)回忆说，在讨论的第二天，陪审团把苹果和三星手机置于黑暗中观察，以确定在只能看到屏幕上色彩丰富的圆角图标时，两部手机的相似度，正是这一观察为三星是否侵犯了苹果一项与屏幕图标有关的专利一事画上了句号。他说，陪审团还比较了2007年iPhone推出之前以及这款手机之后三星智能手机的设计，这种比较也同样帮助陪审团做出了判断。

'It was obvious there was some copying going on,' said the 59-year-old Mr. Ilagan.

今年59岁的伊莱甘说，有些地方显然是模仿过来的。

Not only Samsung but Google -- and other smartphone makers who use its Android mobile operating software -- could decide, or be forced, to drop or modify features to avoid running afoul of patents.

除了三星之外，谷歌以及其他那些使用安卓手机操作系统的智能手机制造商可能也会放弃或修改自家手机的一些特色，或者不得不这么做，以防止侵犯苹果的专利。

'The ones that are close to the look and feel of the iPhone will suffer,' said Robert J. Tosti, a partner with law firm Brown Rudnick LLP who specializes in patent law.

律师事务所Brown Rudnick LLP的合伙人、专攻专利法的托斯提(Robert J. Tosti)说，那些外观和手感与iPhone接近的产品要倒霉了。

Some developers say the verdict could lead to higher costs for writing Android software. 'We have built something for the [Android] system that may have to change,' said Howard Lindzon, an angel investor and entrepreneur who heads personal-finance app maker StockTwits Inc.

一些软件开发人员说，这个判决结果可能会增加开发安卓软件的成本。个人理财应用程序公司StockTwits Inc的负责人、天使投资人Howard Lindzon说，我们为安卓系统开发的一些东西现在可能需要修改。

Some lawyers argue just as strongly, however, that electronics makers are perfectly capable of coming up with more original products. Apple, they argue, isn't the only company that can come up with innovative designs─and its court victory could encourage more innovation by competitors.

但也有律师强烈认为，电子产品制造商完全有能力拿出更多原创性的产品。他们认为，苹果并不是唯一一家能拿出创新设计的公司。苹果在法庭上取得的胜利能够鼓励其竞争对手进行更多创新。

Jorge Contreras, an associate professor at American University Washington College of Law, said the monetary damages in the case are a 'painful hit' to Samsung. But he argued that Android device suppliers, with relatively little effort, can keep pumping out new products. 'Apple's patents will not be that hard to design around,' he said. 'I don't see this verdict as an Android killer.'

美利坚大学华盛顿法学院(American University Washington College of Law)副教授孔特雷拉斯(Jorge Contreras)说，此案裁定的高昂赔偿金对三星而言是一个“痛苦的打击。但他又说安卓设备供应商不用付出很大努力就可以继续推出新产品。他说，想要绕过苹果的专利拿出自己的设计也并非难事，我不认为这一判决结果将致安卓于死地。

Shipments of smartphones running Android accounted for 68% of the smartphone market in the second quarter, according to market tracker IDC, compared with 17% for the Apple iPhone. The verdict is unlikely to change that momentum, several executives at large companies said.

市场调研机构国际数据公司(IDC)说，今年二季度安卓智能手机的出货量在智能手机市场的占比达68%。相比之下，苹果iPhone的市场份额仅有17%。多家大公司高管说，这一判决不太可能改变安卓继续向前发展的势头。

Apple has chosen not to sue Google, for reasons it hasn't explained. But patent lawyers say it is easier to make a case for monetary damages against companies like Samsung that sell hardware to consumers. Google, which generates most of its revenue from online advertising, doesn't charge hardware makers for its software. A Google spokesman didn't respond to requests for comment.

苹果选择不起诉谷歌，但它没有解释原因。但专利律师说，对三星这样向消费者销售硬件的公司追索赔偿金更为容易。谷歌没有向硬件制造商收取软件授权费，其大部分收入来自在线广告。谷歌的一位发言人没有回应记者的置评请求。

Wireless carriers, who already pay hefty subsidies to Apple have voiced concern that their investment in faster networks could be threatened if devices are taken off the market or innovation is stalled by patent disputes.

已经向苹果支付了高额补贴费用的无线运营商则表示担忧，他们担心如果有关设备被迫退出市场或专利纠纷令创新止步不前，他们对速度更快的下一代网络的投资可能受到威胁。

They have been silent on the impact of Friday's verdict. But they have long sought to promote the development of iPhone competitors to gain more leverage in dealings with Apple.

无线运营商对上周五判决结果可能造成的影响沉默不语。但运营商长期以来一直在寻求促进iPhone竞争机型的研发，以便他们在同苹果打交道时能够握有更多的筹码。

For Samsung, there is a short-term cloud. The company, besides facing what is already one of the largest patent damages verdicts on record, could be ordered by federal Judge Lucy Koh to pay as much as three times that sum because the jury found five counts of willful patent infringement.

而愁云短期内还将笼罩在三星头上。美国联邦法官高兰惠(Lucy Koh)可能下令三星支付上述赔偿金额三倍的费用，因为陪审团发现三星被指犯下五项故意侵犯专利的罪行。三星所需支付的赔偿金堪称史上最高额度的专利诉讼赔偿金。

Apple, meanwhile, is expected by Monday to identify the Samsung smartphones and tablets that it will ask the court to block with a preliminary injunction. The products aren't the company's latest models, but Apple has another suit against Samsung in the same U.S. district court over more recent technology, as well as actions against Samsung in other jurisdictions.

与此同时，预计苹果周一将确定其要求法庭签发初步禁令禁止三星销售的智能手机和平板电脑的型号。这些将被禁止销售的产品并非三星推出的最新型号，但苹果针对那些较新的机型在同一家联邦地方法院对三星提起了另一宗诉讼，苹果在其它司法管辖区也有类似针对三星的举动。

'The mountain of evidence presented during the trial showed that Samsung's copying went far deeper than we knew,' said Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, in an email to employees following the verdict.

苹果公司首席执行长库克(Tim Cook)在判决公布后发给员工的一封电子邮件中说，庭审期间出示的大量证据表明，三星对知识产权侵犯的程度比我们此前知道的要严重得多。

Samsung filed infringement charges of its own that the jury rejected. The company vowed to fight on following the verdict─with post-trial motions and then through an appeal, if necessary.

三星提出了此前遭陪审团否决的侵权指控。判决公布后，三星誓言将继续战斗。它将首先将提出裁后动议，如有必要还将提起上诉。

'It is unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners or technology that is being improved every day by Samsung and other companies,' Samsung said Friday, referring to some patents covering Apple's designs.

上周五，三星在提到涵盖苹果设计的某些专利时表示，遗憾的是，专利法竟然被操纵，给了一家公司垄断矩形圆角设计的权利，而三星及其它同行每天都在改进的技术也被独家“授予了这家公司。