Samsung denied rehearing of appeal over $400M patent infringement ruling

The U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday denied Samsung's request for an en banc review of a previous decision that kept Apple's patent infringement trial win largely intact, leaving the Supreme Court as the Korean company's last recourse.

Samsung in June petitioned for a rehearing of a prior CAFC decision regarding the Apple v. Samsung trial. Specifically, the appeals court in May found the jury in that case to have correctly assigned damages against Samsung for infringing Apple's iPhone and iPad designs.

The San Jose Mercury News also reported on the CAFC's latest decision earlier today.

At stake is $399 million in damages that Samsung claims was wrongfully awarded. The company argues that a complex device, such as a smartphone or tablet, includes "hundreds or thousands of different patented technologies," noting that patents asserted by Apple only cover minor features of the whole. In addition, certain patents Apple successfully leveraged during the trial cover functional design ineligible for a damages award, Samsung claims.

Samsung wasn't alone in its CAFC petition, as companies like Dell, eBay, Facebook, Google, Hewlett-Packard and more, offered support in a "friend of the court" brief filed in July. The concerned firms warned the decision in favor of Apple, if left standing, would "lead to absurd results and have a devastating impact on companies, including amici, who spend billions of dollars annually on research and development for complex technologies and their components."

Samsung's failed petition for a rehearing stems from the first Apple v. Samsung jury trial, which in 2012 ended with Samsung on the hook for $1.05 billion. A subsequent partial retrial reduced damages, while a CAFC appeal brought the final tally down to $548 million. That sum is still being contested by both parties.