Apple and Samsung Must Both Pay for Patent Infringement

Earlier this month a jury in California awarded Apple $119 million, ending the patent battle with Samsung over cell phone features. The damages awarded were much less than what was originally claimed ($2.2 billion); the jury also ordered Apple to pay $158,400 for illegally using one of Samsung’s patents in the iPhone 4 and 5.

An Apple spokeswoman said that “Samsung willfully stole [their] ideas and copied [their] products,” however, a law professor from Santa Clara University thought that although “this verdict is large by normal standards, it is hard to view this outcome as much of a victory for Apple… This amount is less than 10 percent of the amount Apple requested and probably doesn’t surpass by too much the amount Apple spent litigating this case.”

The case started on March 31 and a verdict was reached on May 2, 2014; however Judge Koh “recalled the jury May 5 to recalculate one of the damages figures.” The issue was that Apple did not receive damages for a version of the Samsung Galaxy S2 that they believed should have been awarded based on Samsung’s infringement of the ‘172 patent. The jury granted around $4 and $5 million for other Galaxy 2 versions.  After reconvening the jury “shuffled around damages awarded to each of the Galaxy S2 models but did not change the total”, stating it was a clerical error.

Samsung said this after the jury gave their final verdict:

We agree with the jury’s decision to reject Apple’s grossly exaggerated damages claim. Although we are disappointed by the finding of infringement, we are vindicated that for the second time in the US, Apple has been found to infringe Samsung’s patents. It is our long history of innovation and commitment to consumer choice, that has driven us to become the leader in the mobile industry today.