Samsung expert says Apple patents worth $38.4M, not $2.2B

In the ongoing Apple v. Samsung patent trial in California on Monday, a Samsung damages expert said Apple should be granted $38.4 million for all five alleged-infringed patents, far from the $2.19 billion Apple is seeking.

Samsung expert witness Judith Chevalier, an economics and finance professor at Yale University, said her calculations of reasonable royalty rates came out to 35 cents per patent per infringing device, reports CNET. If a lump sum payment were to be doled out to Apple, Samsung would pay around $38.4 million for more than 37 million devices.

"My analysis compensates Apple through a reasonable royalty and...I have determined Apple has not lost sales as a result of Samsung's practice of the patents," Chevalier said, explaining why she did not include damages for lost profits.

The number is leagues away from Apple's patent valuation arguments that put total damages at $2.19 billion for patents infringed between August 2011 and the end of 2013. That equates to an average $40 per infringing Samsung device.

"We have to conclude that the differences in profitability across these products is being driven by something else other than the practice of these patents," Chevalier said. "The value created by these products is really negligible."

On cross-examination, Apple attorney Bill Lee went after Chevalier's methods. In her evaluation, the Yale professor incorporated reviews from customers, one of which came from an iPhone user who claimed "Seerei" shot him with a gun.

Apple is asserting five patents against various Samsung products running Google's Android operating system, including "swipe-to-unlock," data detectors and universal search.

For its part, Samsung calls Apple's patent damages claims a "gross exaggeration" of their actual worth and has been presenting testimony in line with that thinking. Last week, Samsung experts presented studies that sought to prove Apple was "elevating artificially the importance" of certain features covered by the five patents.

Following Chevalier's testimony, Samsung rested its defense case and proceeded to call witnesses for a countersuit against Apple. The Korean company is leveraging two patents against a number of Apple products.