Google, Facebook And More Are Backing Samsung In Patent Fight With Apple

Samsung is currently embroiled in a legal battle with one of its greatest possible foes, Apple , over patents. But some powerful tech companies are coming to Samsung's defense.

Companies like Google , Facebook, Dell , HP and eBay filed a "friend of the court" brief on July 1, according to Inside Sources. (The document is available for viewing on PACER.)

The contention stems from Apple's claim that Samsung profited by violating Apple's patents. The coalition supporting Samsung argued that technology development is a complicated process. Under current patent laws, however, a relatively insignificant part of a product could violate a patent, forcing the innovator to forfeit all profits to the patent owner.

“Under the panel’s reasoning, the manufacturer of a smart television containing a component that infringed any single design patent could be required to pay in damages its total profit on the entire television, no matter how insignificant the design of the infringing feature was to the manufacturer’s profit or to consumer demand,” the group of companies wrote in the brief.

Apple won the case in 2012, initially awarded more than $1 billion in damages. Samsung appealed several times, ultimately reducing the damages to $548 million.

Apple, of course, argued that Google, in particular, had special interest to back Samsung in this fight and was no "impartial" friend of the court.

We'll have to wait to see if the likes of Google and Facebook have enough influence to trounce Apple.