Judge overturns fine Samsung must pay Apple for patent infringement

A federal judge in the United States has ruled on appeal that Samsung does not have to pay a fine of $ 119.6 million it owed Apple for patent infringement. The judges ruled that there was no patent infringement.

As a result, it seems that Samsung can keep the converted amount of 109 million euros in its own pocket, Reuters reported on the basis of a ruling by a federal judge in Washington, which handles cases on appeal and specializes in patent law. The three judges in the case unanimously agreed that Samsung does not infringe any of the patents mentioned in a previous lawsuit. Apple itself had demanded a higher fine than the 109 million euros already awarded.

The fine was imposed by a lower court in 2014, in a lawsuit filed by Apple alleging that Samsung infringed five of its patents. At the time, a jury court decided that Samsung infringed three patents. These patents describe techniques for contextual linking of menus to telephone numbers and email addresses, slide-to-unlock and autocomplete.

In the appeal, the judges state that the first patent was not infringed, while the other two patents were declared invalid. As a result, Samsung ultimately does not infringe any patents of Apple. It is the other way around: the judges confirmed a previous court decision accusing Apple of infringing a Samsung patent. However, this involved a much smaller compensation, namely USD 158,400, or EUR 144,800.

The court decision has not brought the long-standing patent battle between Apple and Samsung to an end. The US Supreme Court is still considering a case in which Samsung must pay an amount of 548 million dollars for patent infringement. This case has also dragged on for several years, with the initial damages even exceeding a billion dollars. Apple has already indicated that it wants to see an additional $180 million.