Apple's patent fight with Samsung is heading to the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court will hear an appeal over $548.2 million Samsung paid Apple in December as part of a 2012 verdict that found that Samsung infringed on Apple's design patents and generally copied the iPhone. Samsung is looking to reclaim $399 million of that amount.
The case examines patents that Apple was given for the design of the iPhone's front face and application icons. Apple was originally seeking $2.5 billion in damages.
"Samsung is escalating this case because it believes that the way the laws were interpreted is not in line with modern times," Samsung said in a statement in December.
Most Samsung smartphones and tablets run Android, a mobile operating system designed by Google. Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been quoted that he has planned to "destroy Android, because it's a stolen product," and that he's "willing to go thermonuclear war" over the issue.
The Supreme Court hasn't heard a design patent case in over a century, according to the New York Times. Other tech companies, such as Google and Facebook, are supporting Samsung in the case.
Most recently, a U.S. appeals court overturned a $120 million jury verdict against Samsung in a separate case, a win for the Korean company. The top two smartphone companies have been fighting for years over patents, such as Apple's "quick links" patent, and other inventions covering basic smartphone design elements such as slide-to-unlock and autocorrect.