US Supreme Court upholds Samsung’s damages to Apple
The U.S. Supreme Court has dismissed Samsung’s appeal against previously ordered damages for Apple’s patent infringement. That means that Samsung will probably have to pay the amount of 103 million euros to Apple.
The judges of the US Supreme Court, without providing further details, believed that Samsung’s appeal should be dismissed. According to Samsung, an earlier decision of a lower court, imposing damages of EUR 103 million, had not followed the correct procedures and other legal opinions and arguments presented in court were not taken into account in the verdict.
Samsung also believes that the judges have misinterpreted the law. For example, Samsung finds it unjustified that a ban has been imposed on the use of Apple innovations in the future. The South Korean company also believes that lower courts have made it too easy for Apple to prove infringement of a patent for the quick links function.
Apple, on the other hand, wanted the Supreme Court to uphold the previously imposed damages, because there was nothing “new or important” in Samsung’s appeal. The Trump administration had previously advised the Supreme Court to dismiss Samsung’s appeal.
According to Reuters, Samsung told judges that the Supreme Court has long been a patron for users, as a lower federal judge interpreted the law too much in favor of patent holders, which Samsung says is at the expense of innovation and competition.
This case dates back to 2014 and concerns Apple patents. According to a federal court in California, there was enough evidence to establish patent infringement for techniques such as contextual linking of menus to phone numbers and email addresses, slide-to-unlock and autocomplete. Samsung allegedly used five Apple patents without permission, the Cupertino company said. The judge ruled that this was indeed the case with three patents. Apple had demanded $2.2 billion from Samsung in this case.
Later, a federal court specializing in patent cases ruled that the California judge’s ruling should be quashed, as there was no patent infringement. This court arrived at this decision by stating that two of the three patents were invalid. The third patent was valid, but there would be no violation by Samsung. This destruction was in turn also reversed, partly because evidence was allegedly used that fell outside the scope of the case.
In another case involving other alleged patent infringements, it was recently revealed that Samsung has enforced a new case over the damages it must pay Apple in connection with the patent infringement over the iPhone’s design. The Supreme Court ruled that the case in which a lower court ordered Samsung to pay Apple $399 million in damages should be re-opened. This case is due in May 2018. Apple and Samsung have been engaged in a patent war for years.