In the latest development in the long and tense conflict between the two companies, Judge Lucy Koh, the federal judge presiding over the Apple v. Samsung litigation in San Jose, ruled in a court filing late Tuesday that Samsung did not willfully violate Apple (AAPL) patents. This decision denies Apple any damages enhancement to the $1.05 billion awarded to the iPhone-maker last August.
“As this is the sum total of Apple’s arguments and evidence that Samsung’s infringement was willful, the Court cannot conclude that Apple has met its burden to show willfulness by clear and convincing evidence”, Judge Koh wrote in her ruling.
Koh said the court could not enhance the damages “given that Apple has not clearly shown how it has in fact been undercompensated for the losses it has suffered due to Samsung’s dilution of its trade dress.” As a result, Cupertino won’t be receiving any additional damages for willful infringement of its IP as it had hoped. Had the ruling gone against Samsung, the South Korean electronics giant could have been forced to pay triple the original judgment, or more than $3 billion in the worst-case scenario, according to patent experts.
Koh also denied Samsung’s motion for a new trial, noting that jury’s $1.05 billion verdict was supported by the evidence, and that “the trial was fairly conducted, with uniform time limits and rules of evidence applied to both sides.”
“A new trial,” Koh wrote, “would be contrary to the interests of justice.”
Orders on Samsung’s Judgment as a Matter of Law
(via AppleInsider)
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