The US Supreme Court has ruled unanimously in the favor of Samsung in their long-standing legal conflict with Apple.

The justices said that the patent infringement could affect just a component of the phones, like its design or appearance, but not the sum total of the device.

That case has stretched on and on since 2011, when the Cupertino-based firm took Samsung to court with claims that the iPhones patents, design and appearance had been infringed upon.

As a result of the court ruling that violations Samsung made to Apple’s design patents, it’s expected that Samsung’s penalty of $548 million will be reduced when the case returns to a lower court to be recalculated – assuming no further appeals are made to the detriment of the ruling.

It’s the second major legal development between the two companies, with a federal appeals court denying Samsung‘s request for a rehearing on its ruling that the company infringed on Apple’s patents for quick links and swipe to unlock.