Samsung loses another patent battle; asked to pay $400 million in damages

Adding to Samsung’s mounting defeats in patent disputes, a federal jury in Texas, USA, has found Samsung guilty of infringing a patent owned by the licensing arm of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, a premier research university in South Korea. The jury has asked Samsung to cough up $400 million in damages – a verdict which Samsung has pledged to appeal.

Apart from Samsung, Qualcomm and GlobalFoundries were also found guilty of infringing the patent but were not asked to pay any damages. The patent relates to a chip-making technology named FinFet which has long assisted in making chips smaller, efficient, and more powerful.

Damages can go up

The jury found Samsung’s infringement to be “willful,” which could result in the judge increasing the damages by up to three times. If the damages go up, this will be a bigger setback for Samsung than the one it encountered in the case against Apple.

Samsung denied infringing the patent and argued that it worked with the university to develop the technology under consideration.  The company expressed disappointment with the verdict and said in a statement, “We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that is reasonable, including an appeal.”

Unlike the disputed Apple patents which affect old Samsung smartphones, the infringed FinFet technology impacts modern processors from Samsung and other chipmakers. Considering the recurring financial implications this patent can have on Samsung, the world’s largest chipmaker, it shouldn’t be surprising if it keeps fighting this case longer than the one involving its Cupertino rival.