Just in case you thought that the $1.05 billion that the jury awarded to Apple in the closely-watched lawsuit involving iPhone and Android smartphones (and tablets) was the end of it—well, you could be excused for being wrong.
Both Apple and Samsung kicked off their official legal responses to the jury verdict, filing a slew of legal paperwork on Friday evening and Saturday morning, asking the judge to make the result of the lawsuit more favorable to them.
September 21st was the deadline that judge Lucy Koh had given both companies to file their responses to the jury verdict, and both companies appear to have made good use of the time since the verdict to produce beefy and thorough legal papers.
Apple and Samsung Both Seek More Favorable Outcome
Apple is seeking an additional $707 million in damages from Samsung--$400 million for design infringement, $135 million for willful infringement and $121 million in supplemental damages. It is also seeking a sales ban on several of the devices that the jury found infringing.
In contrast, Samsung filed a 50(b) motion asking for “judgement as a matter of law” (JMOL), which asks the judge to rule “as a matter of law” for things that “no reasonable jury” could have found. Samsung’s lawyers “respectfully” asked for a completely new trial, stating that “the Court’s constraints on trial time, witnesses and exhibits were unprecedented for a patent case of this complexity and magnitude, and prevented Samsung from presenting a full and fair case in response to Apple’s many claims.”
Samsung’s filing—heavily redacted in some places likely for juror privacy reasons--states that “Samsung is entitled to judgment as a matter of law or a new trial on apple’s design patent infringement claims”, further stating that “no reasonable jury could find” infringement of Apple’s design patents, the design patents valid, and its trade dress protectable.
December 6th Hearing
The judge has ruled that she would hold a hearing on December 6th to address the responses from Apple and Samsung.
The judge had also promised a response on September 20th for the injunction on Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. Judge Koh had initially not permitted an injunction, but Apple appealed to an appeals court which asked her to re-consider, she placed the device on injunction.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 was one of the few devices that the jury found to be not infringing. Apple had to post a $2.6 million bond to secure the injunction (the cost of lost sales), and will likely have to pay Samsung that amount once the injunction is lifted.
While the judge indicated that she would be willing to lift the injunction, she also stated that her hands were tied because Samsung had appealed the injunction to the Federal Circuit. Samsung appealed to the Federal Circuit to lift the hold, and it is expected that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 injunction will be lifted.
Nevertheless, all eyes are on the December 6th hearing, where the judge will make a magnus opus ruling on this enormous case, which industry observers have called unprecedented.
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