Apple, Samsung Patent Saga Still Unraveling
Apple has filed paperwork seeking a new trial against Samsung claiming patent violations on 14 products for which a U.S. judge saw fit to overturn a jury patent-infringement award earlier this month. It's the next logical step for Apple in what's been a long, drawn out legal process that initially saw the Cupertino company awarded $1.05 billion in damages.
On March 4, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California vacated around $450.5 million of the original award, suggesting the jury didn't fully understand the legal and patent issues surrounding the case. She then told Apple and Samsung that if either company wasn't happy with her decision, they should take their beef to the appeals court.
Samsung put in a request to have the case put on hold, much to the chagrin of Apple, which maintains that an appeals court would "likely lead to a remand without a substantive decision." Hence the attempt at a new trial.
According to Florian Mueller at Foss Patents, any vacated parts of the award would have to be redetermined by a new jury, and that's where things get interesting. Since the original jury granted Apple around 40 percent of what was allowed by the court, a new jury could theoretically come back with an even bigger award.
Furthermore, Apple believes Judge Koh erred to the tune of $85 million related to two additional devices, Samsung's Galaxy S III AT&T and Infuse 4G, which it's also seeking in a separate filing.
On March 4, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California vacated around $450.5 million of the original award, suggesting the jury didn't fully understand the legal and patent issues surrounding the case. She then told Apple and Samsung that if either company wasn't happy with her decision, they should take their beef to the appeals court.
Samsung put in a request to have the case put on hold, much to the chagrin of Apple, which maintains that an appeals court would "likely lead to a remand without a substantive decision." Hence the attempt at a new trial.
According to Florian Mueller at Foss Patents, any vacated parts of the award would have to be redetermined by a new jury, and that's where things get interesting. Since the original jury granted Apple around 40 percent of what was allowed by the court, a new jury could theoretically come back with an even bigger award.
Furthermore, Apple believes Judge Koh erred to the tune of $85 million related to two additional devices, Samsung's Galaxy S III AT&T and Infuse 4G, which it's also seeking in a separate filing.
