Samsung ordered to pay Apple $119m
Apple has scored another victory over rival Samsung but has had to settle for millions less than it initially demanded following the latest patent battle between the pair.
South Korea-based Samsung has been ordered to pay $119.6 million after a jury at the US District Court for the Northern District of California found it had infringed two patents asserted against it.
Apple initially said it was due $2 billion in damages for the patents that included the ‘slide to unlock’ feature and a system for adding menus to items including phone numbers and email addresses.
The verdict, originally issued on May 2, had to be reconsidered after District Judge Lucy Koh said one of the damages should be reconsidered but the final amount, announced on May 5, remained unchanged.
Apple asserted five patents in total but could only convince the jury that the two patents, US numbers 5,946,647 and 8,046,721, had been infringed.
In a statement, Apple told WIPR it was “grateful’” for the jury and the court for their services.
It added that the ruling “reinforces” what courts around the world have already found.
“Samsung wilfully stole our ideas and copied our products. We are fighting to defend the hard work that goes into beloved products like the iPhone, which our employees devote their lives to designing and delivering for our customers,” it said.
Samsung did not respond to immediate requests for comment.
Samsung asserted two counterclaims in the trial including one covering its popular FaceTime video calling feature.
The district court ruled that Apple infringed that patent but awarded just $158,000 in damages.
Apple landed the first blow of the company’s patent war in August 2012 after the same court said Samsung infringed its patents in 14 of its products.
Initially, Samsung was ordered to pay $1.05 billion to Apple, but District Judge Lucy Koh vacated $450 million from the figure after ruling that the jury had not adequately calculated a portion of the damages.
After a revision, Samsung was ordered to pay $290 million, taking total damages past $900 million.
According to the CNET, technology website Judge Koh again attempted to encourage the companies to engage in mediation.
A previous attempt at mediation earlier this year, prior to this trial, failed.
