The Verge - Apple vs. Samsung: the verdict

Apple's award in Samsung trial chopped to $598 million from over $1 billion

2013-03-01T20:45:22Z

Judge Lucy Koh has just delivered a serious blow to Cupertino in the Apple v. Samsung legal saga, cutting the damages awarded to the company down to $598,908,892 — and ordering a new trial to determine the remaining balance. In an order this morning, Koh stated that "the Court identified an impermissible legal theory on which the jury based its award," and as such was reducing the original $1.049 billion awarded to Apple in the trial's August verdict. Koh ordered that a new trial take place to determine new damages for the amount she cut — $450,514,650, to be precise — but said that she encouraged both sides to go through the appeals process before proceeding straight to a new trial.

Two main errors

Koh found two main errors in...

Judge rules that Samsung did not infringe Apple patents willfully

2013-01-30T03:27:27Z

Tonight one of the big outstanding issues in the Apple vs. Samsung case came to a close when Judge Lucy Koh ruled that Samsung's infringement of Apple patents was not in fact willful. At issue are the seven design and utility patents that the jury found Samsung had infringed in a $1.049 billion win for Apple last August. The jury had decided that Samsung's infringement in five of the instances had in fact been willful — a finding that could have led to a ballooning of the damages Samsung would be instructed to pay. As part of the post-verdict proceedings, Samsung's legal team asked Koh to consider whether this should be challenged. Judge Koh agreed.

As Koh writes in the ruling, for an ultimate finding of willfulness to hold Apple...

Apple denied permanent sales ban on infringing Samsung products

2012-12-18T03:34:59Z

In a court filing this evening, Judge Lucy Koh has denied Apple's request for a permanent sales ban on 26 Samsung products found to have infringed its patents in a jury verdict this past August. Writing that "this Court has already performed significant irreparable harm analysis in this case," Koh concluded that Apple didn't establish the case for a permanent injunction on Samsung's products. Apple needed to prove that the infringing features were what were directly driving "consumer demand for the accused product" in order to obtain the ban, but that bar was too high.

Neither statements about broad categories, nor evidence of copying, nor the conjoint survey provides sufficiently strong evidence of causation. Without a causal nexus,...

Samsung argues jury foreman was 'deliberately dishonest' in Apple trial

2012-12-07T01:04:38Z

By Nilay Patel and Matt Macari

Apple and Samsung returned to Judge Lucy Koh's courtroom today to argue over potential sales bans, recalculated damages, and whether the actions of the jury foreman are reason for Apple's $1.049 billion verdict to be thrown out altogether. "It's déjà vu all over again," said the court reporter as she walked in — the two companies are at the beginning stages of what will almost certainly be a long appeals process.

Samsung's allegations of misconduct by jury foreman Velvin Hogan were among today's most anticipated issues, but they were barely discussed until the very end: neither party mentioned Hogan until nearly two hours into the hearing, and he was only discussed for two minutes. Apple noted that it...

Apple rebuts juror misconduct claims, says Samsung dropped the ball

2012-10-20T05:51:57Z

Earlier this month Samsung accused the jury foreman in the Apple v. Samsung trial of misconduct, arguing that Apple's $1.049 billion win should be thrown out in favor of a new trial. Now Apple has filed its response with the court, saying that Samsung had its shot to investigate foreman Velvin Hogan during jury selection — and that it's too late to complain now.

One of the main issues is that during jury selection Hogan was asked if he'd been involved in any lawsuits. He did mention one, but failed to disclose a breach of contract case from 1993 between him and his former employer, Seagate. Last year, Samsung became the single largest direct shareholder of Seagate. According to Samsung's legal team, that fact — along with the strong...

Apple requests additional $707 million in damages, permanent US sales ban on 29 Samsung devices

2012-09-22T20:32:07Z

In a motion filed late Friday, Apple asked Judge Lucy Koh to add an additional $707 million to the $1.049 billion in damages awarded by a jury in last month's ruling against Samsung. The company also requested a permanent ban on US sales of 26 Samsung smartphones and three of its tablets. Samsung, meanwhile, argued for a new trial and said that, "at a minimum," the awarded damages should be reduced by $35 million.

In its motion, Apple requested an extra $400 million for design infringement, $135 million for infringement of its utility patents, $121 million in supplemental damages, and $50 million in prejudgment interest. The company also argued that Samsung willfully infringed upon its patents in an attempt to gain market share. "The...

Apple v. Samsung jury foreman: only the 'court of popular opinion' can change the patent system

2012-08-31T11:33:02Z

When the Apple v. Samsung jury handed in its $1.049 bilion verdict last week, the man that delivered the form itself was jury foreman Velvin Hogan. We recently spoke with the 67-year-old engineer, who described his time participating in the trial as a personal high point — while also cautioning that those who were unhappy with the US patent system should look to public debate to change the situation, not a jury.

"Except for my family, it was the high spot of my career," Hogan said about the trial. "You might even say my life." A holder of a patent on video compression himself, he said he recognized that the case represented a "landmark decision," and that he was pleased he'd been selected "because I wanted to be satisfied from my own...

Samsung working with US carriers to update phones facing injunction

2012-08-28T16:24:06Z

Samsung is actively speaking with US carriers about removing infringing features from the eight handsets Apple is seeking injunctions against, reports The Wall Street Journal. Of course, the company first plans to plead its case to Judge Lucy Koh in the hopes of preventing sales from being halted, but it's clear Samsung is also preparing for a worst case scenario in which Apple's requests are granted.

Samsung has stated it has software workarounds for two patents the jury found were violated by a number of its devices. But thanks to Google, thee outlook may be even better than that. According to the court document Apple used to detail infringing products, Samsung has found methods to get around all three utility patents: multitouch...