USPTO invalidates an important Apple’s design patent

The US Patent and Trademark Office invalidated the patent for design № D618,677 owned by Apple.

This patent concerns the appearance of the surface of a smart phone device which is used by Apple in a lawsuit against Samsung.
In this case the Korean company was sanctioned by the US court with an amount of about 900 million. dollars, which was subsequently reduced to about 548 million dollars.
The grounds for invalidation of the patent is the presence of earlier similar designs owned by various manufacturers of smart phones, such as LG, Samsung and others.
Apple is expected to appeal this USPTO decision as it is important for the outcome of the appeal of the main lawsuit.
Source: WIPR.