The US Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Samsung's violation on Apple's smartphone design patents may involve only a component rather than the entire product.

Samsung and Apple fought over the exact amount Samsung has to pay Apple for patent infringement, and the unanimous decision from Justice Sonia Sotomayor means that Samsung might not have to pay penalties reaching up to $548 million.

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According to Reuters, the Supreme Court has ruled in Samsung's favor and has wiped out the $399 million judgement completely. So Samsung, at the very least, may going to pay Apple $149 million.

Samsung naturally argued that the balance of $399 million in damages is too much and that the design patents upon which the damages award was based were being afforded far too much value. Specifically, Samsung argued that Apple is only entitled to damages from portions of the phone that actually was infringed as opposed to basing the damages on the profit margins of each infringing Samsung device.

The justices reasoned that the patent infringement could affect just a component of the phones, such as their appearance, rather than all their capabilities.

Sotomayor stressed out that the term "'article of manufacture' is broad enough to embrace both a product sold to a consumer and a component of that product whether sold separately or not."

This five-year legal battle between the two giant smartphone manufacturers have began in 2011 when Apple sued Samsung for stealing its technology and the iPhone's trademarked appearance.

Now, the Supreme Court in their 8-0 ruling will return to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to determine what portion of its profits Samsung must pay, a process that several justices predicted will be difficult. This difficulty seems to keep rolling the never-ending patent battle between the two giant tech companies, of which the world is watching. 

TagsSamsung, apple, US Supreme Court, patent-infringement, Unanimous decision