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Apple's Cook says verdict marks big day for innovators

After a jury ruled overwhelmingly in Apple's favor in its patent case against Samsung, Apple CEO Tim Cook tells staffers, in a memo, that Apple "chose legal action very reluctantly."

Edward Moyer Senior Editor
Edward Moyer is a senior editor at CNET and a many-year veteran of the writing and editing world. He enjoys taking sentences apart and putting them back together. He also likes making them from scratch. ¶ For nearly a quarter of a century, he's edited and written stories about various aspects of the technology world, from the US National Security Agency's controversial spying techniques to historic NASA space missions to 3D-printed works of fine art. Before that, he wrote about movies, musicians, artists and subcultures.
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CEO Tim Cook at the debut of the iPhone 4S last fall. Josh Lowensohn/CNET

Complete coverage: Apple v. Samsung, a battle over billions

Apple chief Tim Cook sent a postverdict memo to employees today, after a jury ruled overwhelmingly in Apple's favor in its patent infringement case against Samsung.

The missive is for the most part a reworking of Apple's statement earlier in the day. The Cook memo adds a line saying that "Today was an important day for Apple and for innovators everywhere" and that Apple "chose legal action very reluctantly and only after repeatedly asking Samsung to stop copying our work."

Here's the memo in its entirety, as first published by 9to5 Mac:

Today was an important day for Apple and for innovators everywhere.

Many of you have been closely following the trial against Samsung in San Jose for the past few weeks. We chose legal action very reluctantly and only after repeatedly asking Samsung to stop copying our work. For us this lawsuit has always been about something much more important than patents or money. It's about values. We value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on earth. And we do this to delight our customers, not for competitors to flagrantly copy.

We owe a debt of gratitude to the jury who invested their time in listening to our story. We were thrilled to finally have the opportunity to tell it. The mountain of evidence presented during the trial showed that Samsung's copying went far deeper than we knew.

The jury has now spoken. We applaud them for finding Samsung's behavior willful and for sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn't right.

I am very proud of the work that each of you do.

Today, values have won and I hope the whole world listens.

Tim

And here, for the sake of comparison, is Apple's statement from earlier today:

We are grateful to the jury for their service and for investing the time to listen to our story and we were thrilled to be able to finally tell it. The mountain of evidence presented during the trial showed that Samsung's copying went far deeper than even we knew. The lawsuits between Apple and Samsung were about much more than patents or money. They were about values. At Apple, we value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on earth. We make these products to delight our customers, not for our competitors to flagrantly copy. We applaud the court for finding Samsung's behavior willful and for sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn't right.

CNET's extensive coverage of the trial is gathered here.