By Graham K. Rogers

When the iPhone was announced in January 2007, many dismissed it. After all, Apple was not a player in the handset market and the lack of experience would surely cause a failure. The rest, of course is history.

Also history is the way that, after the iPhone was a success, that other phone makers begun to change their handsets. I can remember travelling on a Bangkok bus and looking at a passenger's iPhone (rare in those days), only to discover that it was a Samsung. Not only was the shape similar, but many of the features incorporated were also apparently copied, either by Samsung, or perhaps by the developers of the operating system used on the phone, Google, with its Android.

There were trials on the patents in many countries, with Apple having mixed success. There were some surprises, particularly in Europe. One of the most significant trials was held in California, in front of Judge Lucy Koh. A verdict in that case ended up with Samsung being required to pay over some $2 billion or more, but some companies are not good losers. Eventually a second trial was held with a focus on five patents: the verdict on that is now in.

As before, Samsung was found to have infringed on an Apple patent, although, Ina Fried reports for re/code, not the other that was in question: at least, not totally. Only some Samsung phones infringed on that.

It would appear from the early reports that Apple is not likely to get the $2 billion figure it was asking for with the jury awarding a lower figure of several millions.

Another report from Mike Beasley on 9to5 Mac who reports that,