Samsung Electronics shares have suffered their biggest fall in a single day in almost four years, after a US jury found the technology giant copied designs from Apple.
The South Korean company’s shares fell 7% in Seoul trading, the most since October 2008.
The company was ordered to pay $1.05 billion in damages to Apple, in one of the most significant rulings in a global intellectual property battle.
Samsung will appeal over the verdict.
Analysts said investors were worried that the ruling could affect revenues.
Samsung Electronics shares have suffered their biggest fall in a single day in almost four years, after a US jury found the technology giant copied designs from Apple
“An adjustment in the next few days is unavoidable as the damage amount was much bigger than market expectations, and there are further uncertainties, such as the possibility of a sales ban,” said John Park, from Daishin Securities.
Apple has said it will seek an injunction to block sales of Samsung products in the United States, a key market, at a court hearing on 20 September.
One of the biggest concerns for Samsung is whether Apple will now target the Galaxy S3, which was not included in the recent trial, as it focussed on older products.
The flagship product is Samsung’s best selling smartphone and if it is included in a US ban on sales that would give Apple a major advantage in the market, analysts said.
A nine-member jury in San Jose, California ruled on 24 August that Samsung had infringed Apple patents for mobile devices.
It was the most closely-watched of many similar patent disputes being contested in courts around the world between electronics manufacturers.
In recent weeks, a court in South Korea ruled that both Apple and Samsung had copied each other, while a British court dismissed claims by the American company that Samsung had infringed its copyrights.
Apple has announced that OS X Mountain Lion, the latest version of its Mac operation system, will be released on Wednesday.
OS X Mountain Lion makes it easier to share material to social networks and also introduces a notification panel similar to that found on many smartphones.
The news was revealed in the company’s third quarter earnings release.
Mac sales were 2% up on the year, but the results fell short of many analysts’ forecasts.
Apple’s shares dropped about 5% in after hours trading on Wall Street.
Apple has announced that OS X Mountain Lion, the latest version of its Mac operation system, will be released on Wednesday
Apple first announced the latest update to its operating system in February. The update continues a trend to introduce features to its desktop and laptop families that have already been implemented on its iPad and iPhone mobile devices.
These include the ability to upload and synchronize material with its iCloud internet storage service; the introduction of the iMessage service allowing text message-like chats between the firm’s computers and handsets; the ability to easily share material to Twitter; and an application to compare the user’s video game scores against those of their friends.
Apple has also taken steps to aid its expansion in China including the adoption of Baidu as a search service built into its web browser’s toolbar, and buttons to make it easy to share material to the Sina Weibo microblog, and the video sites Youku and Tudou.
However, the firm’s decision to keep its Mac system distinct from iOS for mobile devices is set to be challenged by October’s Windows 8 release by Microsoft.
Microsoft is offering users the chance to run the same system on both their tablets and desktop computers, making it easier to share software between them.
Windows 8 – and its touchscreen Metro apps – have been described by Microsoft as the biggest revision to its interface in over a decade. But one analyst said Mountain Lion was more of an incremental step forward.
“While there are a lots of new features this is not a major upgrade like the last version Lion was,” said Brian Blau, research director at tech research firm Gartner.
“But Apple has also been improving its Office-like software and creation applications along the way, so maybe it didn’t need such a big revision. And you have to bear in mind it is only charging $20 for the change.”
By contrast Microsoft is charging $39.99 for a Windows 8 upgrade, while Linux-based systems, such as Ubuntu and Debian, can be downloaded for free.
