The courts
Apple an American company, were predictably awarded a gigabuck in a California Court, while a South Korean court found that while both companies infringed patents, the South Korean company Samsung was less at fault and was awarded damages. A london court very reasonably told them both to sod off and play somewhere else. I haven't tracked down what other jurisdictions came up with, but it's my personal opinion that the matters at issue should not be patentable anyway. Never mind - you should still be able to buy those Samsung models outside the US, which of course means in most of the world. The US decision is a strictly local affair, and in any case should apply only until somebody comes up with a new model.
