https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-samsung-fight-over-what-made-the-iphone-revolutionary-patent-trial/

When it comes to smartphones, is the whole greater than the sum of its parts? Apple thinks so. But on Tuesday, in a patent suit with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, the company's lawyers faced off against a Samsung legal team that thinks different.

In opening arguments for a damages phase of the patent suit -- Samsung already has been found to infringe -- Apple attorney Bill Lee argued that three design patents, while covering merely cosmetic aspects of iPhones, are in fact key to making the phones look good and work well. That's why Apple wants Samsung to pay more than $1 billion for its infringement.