Second Samsung appeal bid on $119.6 million iPhone slide-to-unlock patent verdict denied

By Mike Wuerthele

The U.S. Court of Appeals has denied Samsung's bid for a second re-hearing of the storied 2014 patent trial with apple, covering auto-correct, quick links, and slide-to-unlock, and is now on the hook for the $119.6 million ruling.

The Court of Appeals made no comment on the refusal of the appeal effort by Samsung. Samsung's only venue for relief on the matter is the Supreme Court, should it decide to pursue that avenue.

Samsung had little support in this matter, standing in contrast to wide industry support for its Supreme Court bid over the first Apple versus Samsung trial. Only the Computer & Communications Industry Association, of which Samsung is a member, filed an amicus curiae brief, that pointed to assorted blogs and the possibility of political gamesmanship in the court or other conspiracy theories influencing the reinstatement.

In the original jury decision handed down in May 2014 both Samsung and Apple were found to have infringed on each others' patents. Samsung was still ordered to pay $119.6 million in damages to Apple for violating three patents, a far cry from the $2.2 billion Apple was seeking.

Following weeks of testimony and three days of deliberations, the eight-member Apple v. Samsung jury reached a decision awarding Apple $119,625,000 on three infringed patents and Samsung $158,400 on one patent.

The jury found all accused Samsung devices in infringement of Apple's '647 data detectors patent and partial infringement on the '721 patent for "slide-to-unlock" functionality, a contentious piece of IP in the case. Presiding Judge Lucy Koh already found Apple's '172 patent for text prediction to be infringed by Samsung in a summary judgment in January. Samsung emerged victorious on allegations regarding the '959 universal search and '414 background syncing patents.

A previous appeal filed by Samsung in January resulted in the verdict getting tossed in February, and found the patents either not obvious, or infringed. On review, a full court ruled in an 8-3 vote in October to reaffirm the verdict, and the $119.6 million award.

Apple and Samsung's first patent case is currently being deliberated by the Supreme Court. The justices are expected to hand in a decision on that matter by June 2017.