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A JUDGE IN the US has cut $450 million from a $1 billion award to be paid by Samsung in a landmark patent lawsuit from Apple, saying a jury had wrongly calculated the damages.
US District Judge Lucy Koh affirmed the remainder of the award, amounting to $598.9 million, in the patent infringement case, while denying Apple’s request for a bigger penalty.
The decision on Friday marked the latest twist in the blockbuster trial pitting the maker of the iPhone against the surging South Korean electronics giant.
Apple had accused its rival of massive and willful copying of its designs and technology for smartphones and tablets.
But Koh said the jury erred in calculating damages for some of the devices in question, including some models of the Galaxy SII smartphone and Galaxy Tab tablet, and struck down as invalid the $450 million awarded to the Silicon Valley giant.
She ruled that a new trial would be needed to award damages for those items, because an “impermissible legal theory” the jury used to calculate the award means that she “cannot reasonably calculate the amount of excess while effectuating the intent of the jury.”
But Koh encouraged both parties to have the case reviewed by an appellate court before any new trial.
Galaxy smartphones and tablets
The judge allowed the award to stand for 14 products, including some Galaxy smartphones and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, leaving an award of $598.9 million.
The jury relied on Apple’s calculation for lost profits dating back to 2010, when it first told Samsung of its objections, but Koh said that in most cases, the damages could only cover the period after the lawsuit was filed in April 2011.
“There are eight phones for which the jury awarded 40 percent of Samsung’s profits for the entire period, but for which, during some of the damages period, infringer’s profits was not an authorized remedy,” the ruling read.
“The only remaining possibility is to conduct a new trial on damages for these eight products.”
The judge said Apple could have averted a new trial if it had not pursued an “aggressive” strategy by using an expert report based on a long period of infringement.
“The need for a new trial could have been avoided had Apple chosen a more circumspect strategy or provided more evidence to allow the jury or the court to determine the appropriate award for a shorter notice period,” she wrote.
“Pleased with the decision”
Samsung said in a statement that it was “pleased” with the decision to reduce the damages and added that the company “intends to seek further review as to the remaining award.”
“We are also pleased that the court earlier found that Samsung had not acted willfully, denied Apple’s request for a permanent injunction, and denied Apple’s motion for increased damages,” the South Korean firm said.
There was no immediate comment from Apple.
Telecom analyst Jeff Kagan said the Apple-Samsung battle is “a huge case that just won’t end” but will not have an impact on consumers because both firms “are both working on the next generation of devices.”
The August jury verdict was seen as a decisive victory for Apple, which has been seeking to boost damages and to ban some Samsung products from the United States.
Apple has been rapidly losing market share to Samsung and other manufacturers that use the free Google Android system in the smartphone and tablet computer markets.
Google’s Android system was used on 70.1 percent of smartphones shipped in the fourth quarter last year, while Apple held 21 percent of the global market, according to research firm IDC.
- © AFP 2013.
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I think the decision to ask people to stay off the roads was a major contributor to the low death toll .
Well done to all the emergency services and to companies who instructed staff to stay home .
Condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones .
@Paddy Hayden: no doubt as also did closing schools/crèches etc. I was put at 8 yesterday morning and it was like Christmas Day. Popped to shop about 11 and it was like an off license on Christmas Eve. The winds were at their worst in the early hours of this morning in north fingal
I agree Paddy. Well done to all. Does anybody feel that those who defied the advice and went swimming or whatever, should be charged with sone type of public order offence ? Like it was crazy to do what some did – idiots !
@Chris Gavican: yes
@Chris Gavican: send them the bill for their rescue, and pursue them through the courts for payment. Might deter other Darwin Award nominees.
@Chris Gavican: They should be made to pay whatever it costs to bring out the emergency services. To unnecessarily put others’ lives at risk, whatever about the stupidity of risking their own lives is criminally reckless.
The pictures of shoppers in Tesco and Lidl are hugely informative. Who knew that is how people shopped in a storm?
@roderick:
Roofs blown off and structural damage in Cork, meanwhile shoppers in Dublin stocked up on their lattes….
@Avina Laaf: I mean it was just one day!
It was only one day of the storm but for people living in the country which is where most of the damage was done, it’s up to 10 days without power which also means no water and roads still blocked, so maybe for a change people on here should think of those outside of Dublin.
In fairness the queues are always like that in lidl in Thomas St
The biggest storm I remember was on the night of 31 January 1974. There were 3, 100-year old trees down across the Monkstown road (Co. Dublin). The road was closed for 3 days. On the Vico road above Whiterock beach most of the wires were down from the poles on the road. I lost count of the number of fallen trees I saw all around Co. Dublin. A new housing estate in Portmarnock had most of the roof tiles stripped from many houses. I was driving at 1.30 AM along the Stillorgan road near Foxrock and the trees were meeting each other from both sides of the road forming a tunnel. That road was a much narrower dual carriageway in those days. I’m amazed that this storm is never mentioned when big storms are talked about on radio or television. I have never experienced winds or storms as bad as that one.
So, there was a storm in dublin and cork yesterday, the rest of the country was very lucky !!!
@eamonn farrell: well said eamonn, pics only show dublin and cork, as we know the rest of rural ireland does not matter in some eyes
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