Reports broke that Samsung paid Apple a $1 billion fine- the result of a longstanding legal patent battle between the two electronics companies-in nickels. Over 30 trucks were allegedly sent to the Cupertino company's headquarters, where the millions of coins were unceremoniously dumped.
(Image: Samsung / Apple Logo)Samsung will dispute their claims in court in July 2012.Unfortunately, the many publications who reported on Samsung's unorthodox payment were duped. The story was completely false, fabricated by Mexican website El Deforma- known for its fake news.
El Deforma reported that Samsung, in a bid to get even with Apple, had a fleet of dump trucks bring the billion-dollar fine to California in nickels. They also reported that Tim Cook, the CEO of the electronics giant, was called by Samsung executives to confirm the payment.
"You can use your coins to buy refreshments at the little machine for life or melt the coins to make computers, that's not my problem," Lee Kun-hee, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, allegedly told readability.com. "That's not my problem. I already paid them and fulfilled the law."
The fake story was perpetuated by Yahoo! Finanzias, the Spanish version of Yahoo! Finance, and from there, many media outlets ran the story as legitimate. The story is far from the truth, however.
Although Samsung was found liable for infringing on six mobile patents from Apple and is supposed to pay $1.049 billion, that was determined by the jury, not the judge. Before any payments are made, the judge would have to agree in the decision to come Sept. 20 or Dec. 6. That may be no better, though, as the Korean electronics company could have the fine tripled, according to The Guardian U.K.
Another warning sign for those reading the fake report should have come up when the fine was mentioned. 20 billion coins can hardly fit in 30 trucks- it would take 2,755 18-wheeler trucks to carry that much money, estimated Ken Tindell via Twitter.
While the $1 billion fine has yet to be finalized, Samsung will see other penalties for violating patents.
Devices that will be banned by Apple include the Samsung Galaxy S 4G, the Galaxy S2 on three of the major carriers in the U.S., the LTE variant of the device known as the Skyrocket, the Galaxy S Showcase, the Droid Charge, and the Galaxy Prevail.
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