Neil Hughes
An appeals court ruled on Monday that Samsung's $930 million penalty, stemming from its patent infringement suit with Apple, must be adjusted, in a mixed courtroom outcome for the iPhone maker.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit announced that it has affirmed a jury's verdict finding that Samsung violated Apple's design and utility patents. But the appeals court also ruled that Samsung did not infringe on Apple's trade dress intellectual property, and overturned the jury's findings on that issue.
"We therefore vacate the jury's damages awards against the Samsung products that were found liable for trade dress dilution and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion," the ruling states.
The appeals court also affirmed the district court's denial of Samsung's motions for a retrial. The decision means that Samsung's $930 million fine will be adjusted, and likely reduced, once the trade dress claims are removed from the judgement.
Design patents can cover specific, nonfunctional design elements. Trade dress patents, meanwhile, are more comprehensive.
In the initial trial, Apple had asserted a total of four trade tress, or product design, claims against Samsung. Three of them dealt with the iPhone, and one covered the iPad and iPad 2. Apple's trade dress for the iPhone was presented during the trial as:
- A rectangular product with four evenly rounded corners
- A flat, clear surface covering the front of the product
- A display screen under the clear surface
- Substantial neutral (black or white) borders above and below the display and narrower neutral borders on either side of the screen
- On the display, a matrix of colorful square icons with evenly rounded corners
- A dock at the bottom of the display
Samsung was first found guilty of infringement in 2012 and ordered to pay Apple $1.05 billion. Presiding Judge Lucy Koh then struck some $450 million off of that award and set a retrial to reassess the damages.
At the end of that process, Samsung ended up with a $930 million fine for patent infringement, which the South Korean company once again appealed.
The appeals court's full decision handed down Monday is included below:
Andrew Orr
Wesley Hilliard
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
William Gallagher
90 Comments
How in the world can one say they did not violate trade dress when even their own lawyers couldn't tell the difference between an iPad and a Samsung tablet? Their Galaxy phone looked almost exactly like an iPhone, and even the packaging looked the same as the iPhone, down to the typeface used. The adapter was exactly the same as Apple's new and unique design.even their internal documents showed that they set out to copy the iPhone as exactly as they could. Ad infinitum. The system is broken and this scumbag company is now even more empowered to continue their illegal business practices as they thumb their nose at the rest of the world.
The US court system is still a joke. As the graphic shows, Samsung obviously copied the "trade dress" of iPhones after they were released. What else does the court system have to have to justify Apple's complaints? I bet Samsung will get off with a slap of the hand over design patents. Samsung has already done so much damage that Apple can't get back so no amount of money will be a fair amount for Apple. Samsung got away with it and the courts won't do what they really need to do: shut Samsung down.
What's the difference between trade dress and design patents? How could the court say Samsung violated one but not the other?
But Samsung does sooooooo much for Marshall, TX. Or Maybe not enough!?
I bet if Samsung were to sue Apple for trade-dress violations, they would win a multi-billion dollar award which would be tripled on appeal and would have to pay a court croney millions of dollars a year to "keep an eye on them". Apple just can't get a break with these courts.