Apple sued Samsung back in 2012 claiming that the latter had made and sold some phones that infringed on several patents that it owned. The jury in the original case sided with Apple and ordered Samsung to pay $1.05 billion in damages. That was only the beginning of this legal drama, though, which is now approaching the better part of half a decade without a final resolution.
The initial damages award of $1.05 billion was cut down by $450.5 million by District Court Judge Lucy Koh due to a jury error. A new trial was ordered the following year for recalculation of the damages with Samsung ultimately paying $548 million to Apple in 2015 while reserving the right to reclaim any amount paid if the judgment was reversed, modified, vacated or set aside on appeal or otherwise.
Final decision could come in a couple of days
Samsung then headed to the United States Supreme Court to seek clarification on whether damages from design patents were limited to the value of the infringed part instead of the total profit made from the sale of the device.
The court sided with Samsung’s argument and ruled that damages can be based only on the infringed components as well in some cases. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit then remanded the case back to the same Northern District Court of California where this legal drama first began.
In the 2018 retrial, only $399 million of the $548 million that Samsung has already paid is being examined again as it’s considered the “additional remedy” amount. Samsung sold 8.6 million smartphones that infringed on Apple’s patents and earned $3.3 billion in revenue. Apple has once again argued in the retrial that it should get $1 billion in damages which is the total profit that Samsung made from the phones which infringed on its patents.
On the other hand, Samsung argues that it should only have to pay damages on the value of the infringing components and not on all of the profits it made from those devices. It urged the jury to limit the award to $28 million.
Lawyers for both companies concluded their arguments and made their final statements on Friday. The jury will meet on Monday to deliberate and come to a final decision with the result likely being announced on Tuesday if the deliberation process isn’t drawn out. Apple and Samsung will both be hoping that the decision goes in their favor but it’s too soon to predict what the jury might decide.
What do you think, does Samsung’s argument that damages should be limited to infringing components make sense? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
