Samsung Sees Shares Plummet 7.5 percent After Loss of Patent Case

Seoul. Samsung Electronics Co’s stock dropped as much as 7.7 percent Monday after it lost a patent-infringement case against Apple Inc in the United States.

Its stock closed at 1.18 million won (1,040 dollars) in Seoul, down 7.5 per cent from Friday’s closing price, for its biggest drop in nearly four years as investors worried about how the US case would affect the other Samsung v. Apple patent cases pending worldwide and whether some of Samsung’s products would be banned for sale in the US.

The drop caused the market value of Samsung, South Korea’s largest firm by market capitalization, to drop 10 billion dollars.

A US federal court jury on Friday found that Samsung had infringed on six Apple smartphone patents and awarded the US company $1.05 billion.

At a September hearing, a judge was to consider Apple’s request for a US sales ban on such Samsung products as Galaxy smartphones, after the jury found Samsung had copied technology used in Apple’s iPad and iPhone.

The case decided in San Jose, California, was begun in April 2011 when Apple sued Samsung. Samsung countersued in a legal battle that also has fronts in Britain, Australia and South Korea. Friday’s ruling could have wide-ranging effects on the development of the mobile phone market.

The world’s biggest mobile phone maker said it would seek to have the verdict overturned and, if it failed, it would appeal.

In a memo issued Monday for its employees, Samsung said it was disappointed with the verdict and would “do our utmost until our arguments have been accepted.” “History has shown there has yet to be a company that has won the hearts and minds of consumers and achieved continuous growth when its primary means to competition has been the outright abuse of patent law, not the pursuit of innovation,” Samsung said.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur