Apple-Samsung patent partial retrial set for November
A US judge ordered a new trial for November to review a portion of the damages tossed out in the landmark patent case involving Apple and Samsung.
Judge Lucy Koh set the case for November 19, according to the northern California district court docket.
The new trial became necessary after the judge cut some $450 million from a damage award of more than $1 billion to be paid by Samsung in a case in which the US firm accused its South Korean rival of copying technology from the iPhone and iPad.
Koh, in her ruling in March, affirmed the remainder of the award, amounting to $598.9 million.
Apple accused its rival of massive and willful copying of its designs and technology for smartphones and tablets, and won the landmark case in a jury decision in August 2012. But the case has been on hold pending multiple appeals.
Florian Mueller, a consultant who follows patent issues, said that Samsung "hopes that the total damages figure will go down (though it can't go below $650 million without an appeal because that's the amount not vacated."
Mueller noted in a blog post that "there is upside for Apple if the new jury awards it a higher percentage of its court-approved damages claims than last time."
But he noted that damages are less important than "injunctive relief," or orders which court bar the sale of some Samsung devices.
The California case is among several pending in courts and administrative agencies around the world between the two electronics giants, each of which accuses the other of infringing on its patents.
After years of following and refining the iPhone's pioneering innovations—a strategy that resulted in bitter patent battles with Apple—Samsung has dethroned its California-based rival to become the world's top smartphone maker.
© 2013 AFP
