US Justice Department says Supreme Court should deny Samsung request for Apple v. Samsung review

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday issued a recommendation against the Supreme Court reviewing a 2014 court verdict, which at the time awarded Apple almost $120 million for patent infringement by Samsung.

"In the view of the United States, the petition for a writ of certiorari should be denied," the Justice Department wrote this month according to CNET. Samsung requested the review in March, and Apple submitted a counterargument in May, with which the DoJ ultimately sided.

The case in question is distinct from the one at the center of a December Supreme Court ruling, which addressed a 2012 verdict that awarded Apple nearly $1 billion for Samsung's violation of iPhone design concepts. The amount was later reduced to $548 million.

Samsung challenged $399 million of the sum at the Supreme Court, successfully arguing that it shouldn't have to hand over the complete profits of devices simply because some aspects were infringing — likening the situation to demanding the entire profits of a car because of a cupholder. The Supreme Court then sent the matter back down to a district court in San Jose.

In the May 2014 verdict, Samsung was found to have infringed patents on data detectors and the iPhone's since-abandoned "slide to unlock" function. Apple, though, was found to have infringed on a patent related to digital images and speech.

Samsung managed to get its penalty overturned in an initial appeal, but a review reinstated the verdict, and a second appeal was denied.