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Star designers are being pitted against tech titans in the latest episode of Apple’s legal battle with Samsung. More than 100 design leaders, including Lord Norman Foster, Sir Paul Smith, Sir Terence Conran, Calvin Klein and Dieter Rams, have joined Apple’s side as the long-running patent case is considered by the US Supreme Court.
在苹果(Apple)与三星(Samsung)法律诉讼的最新进展中，知名设计师与科技巨擘针锋相对。美国最高法院(US Supreme Court)受理这桩旷日持久的专利案后，100多名设计界领袖站在了苹果一方，其中包括诺曼•福斯特勋爵(Lord Norman Foster)、保罗•史密斯爵士(Sir Paul Smith)、特伦斯•康兰爵士(Sir Terence Conran)、卡尔文•克莱恩(Calvin Klein)以及迪特尔•拉姆斯(Dieter Rams)。
The move sets many of the most famous names in industrial design, fashion and architecture against some of the biggest tech companies in the world, including Google and Facebook, who have lined up behind Samsung in the case.
众多大名鼎鼎的工业设计、时尚和建筑设计师由此与谷歌(Google)、Facebook等一些全球最大科技公司展开对垒，后者在此案中支持三星。
Samsung’s appeal to the Supreme Court hinges on what portion of a copied product’s profits can be awarded in damages to a patent holder. It is the first time in decades that the top US court in the US has considered an issue relating to design patents.
在三星向美国最高法院提起的上诉中，关键之处在于仿冒产品的哪部分利润应该给予专利持有者作为赔偿。这是几十年来美国最高法院首次审理与设计专利相关的案件。
In an amicus brief filed on Thuryesterday, 111 international design professionals and academics urged the court to uphold the 129-year-old ruling by the US Congress that “it is the design that sells the article” and therefore patent infringement should incur damages equal to the whole of the profits generated by a copycat product.
在昨日提交的一份“法庭之友”意见陈述书(amicus brief)中，国际设计界111名专业人士和学者敦促美国最高法院维持美国国会一项有129年历史的裁决：“使物品能够销售出去的是设计”，因此专利侵权导致的赔偿金应等于仿冒产品产生的全部利润。
The submission marks the first intervention by the design community in the high-profile case, after a jury in California handed what was originally more than $1bn in damages against Samsung to Apple four years ago.
这份意见书标志着设计界首次介入这桩令人瞩目的案件。4年前，加州一陪审团初步判定三星应向苹果支付逾10亿美元赔偿金。
Samsung has argued that the 2012 ruling, if upheld, could “stifle competition” in the tech industry by awarding “excessive” damages to patent holders and arm so-called “patent trolls” who abuse the intellectual property system. It has already paid $548m to Apple after its earlier appeals failed.
三星辩称，如果维持2012年的裁决，专利持有者将获得“超额”赔偿金，同时那些滥用知识产权制度的“专利流氓”将获得依据，这可能会压制科技业的“竞争”。在早先的上诉败诉后，三星已向苹果支付5.48亿美元赔偿金。
The designers’ filing follows Apple’s own response last week, which argued that Congress’s original ruling should stand and Samsung had failed to provide adequate evidence to support its case. The group of “friends to the court” was convened by Charles Mauro, founder of the New York design consultancy Mauro New Media, and law firm Orrick.
在设计师们提交意见书之前，苹果自己在上周已作出了回应，该公司辩称，应维持美国国会的最初裁决，而且三星未能提供充足证据支持其上诉理由。这个“法庭之友”群体由纽约设计咨询公司Mauro New Media的创始人查尔斯•莫罗(Charles Mauro)以及律师事务所Orrick召集。
“It became very clear to leading designers in the US and design researchers globally that Samsung, should they prevail in their effort to remake the compensation methodology for infringement, would create an existential threat to design professionals who rely on intellectual property for value and protection,” Mr Mauro said. in an interview.
莫罗在一次采访中表示：“美国领先设计师和全球设计研究人员非常明白，如果三星调整侵权补偿方法的努力取得成功，将对依赖知识产权实现价值和获得保护的专业设计人员造成生死攸关的威胁。”
He added that Samsung was “dead wrong” to argue that consumers consider a wide variety of technical features, as well as the external design, when deciding which product to buy. “Modern marketing and cognitive science shows very clearly that visual design in consumer decision-making overrides underlying functionality,” he said.
他补充称，三星认为消费者在决定购买哪种产品时会考虑各种各样的技术特征和外部设计，这种观点“大错特错”。他说：“现代营销和认知科学明确表明，在影响消费者决策方面，视觉设计胜过基本功能。”
Mr Mauro told the Financial Times that if Samsung prevailed in the Supreme Court, it could unleash a new wave of copycats and create a “massive problem” for US patent holders by making litigation much more complicated.
莫罗向英国《金融时报》表示，如果三星在最高法院胜诉，就可能带来新一波抄袭潮，并让诉讼变得更为复杂，给美国专利持有者带来“巨大问题”。
“We would see the return of exact copyists and a flooding of the US market of copycat products because nobody would be afraid any more,” he said. “It would become a cost-benefit equation.”
他说：“我们将会看到真正的剽窃者回归，以及山寨产品涌入美国市场，因为仿冒者再也不会忌惮，他们将衡量成本与收益。”
Other signatories include executives at fashion houses Louis Vuitton, Dries Van Noten and Lanvin, tech groups including Microsoft, Dyson and McLaren Technology Group, as well as carmaker Bentley Motors, furniture designer Knoll and jeweller Georg Jensen.
其他签署人包括众多公司的高管，比如时尚集团路易威登(Louis Vuitton)、德赖斯•范诺顿(Dries Van Noten)和朗万(Lanvin)，科技公司微软(Microsoft)、戴森(Dyson)和迈凯伦科技集团(McLaren Technology Group)，以及汽车制造商宾利汽车(Bentley Motors)、家具设计公司诺尔(Knoll)和珠宝公司Georg Jensen。
The designers together have received hundreds of patents and have worked with tech companies including Apple, Samsung and Google as well as companies in other industries, such as American Airlines, Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Procter & Gamble.
这些设计师们总共获得了数百项专利，并与许多公司合作，包括苹果、三星和谷歌等科技公司以及其他行业的公司，比如美国航空(American Airlines)、可口可乐(Coca-Cola)、星巴克(Starbucks)和宝洁(Procter & Gamble)。
A Samsung spokesperson said: “We have received overwhelming support for overturning the ruling in favour of Apple, including from leading patent experts, numerous concerned companies, and the US government.
一位三星发言人表示：“许多人支持推翻有利于苹果的判决，包括专利方面的顶尖专家、大量相关公司以及美国政府。
“If left uncorrected, the appeals court’s ruling could lead to diminished innovation, pave the way for design troll patent litigation and negatively impact the economy and consumers.”
“如果不推翻上诉法庭的判决，就可能导致创新减少，为‘专利流氓’开展诉讼铺平道路，并对经济和消费者造成负面影响。”
