US jury orders Samsung to pay $119.6 million to Apple News
US jury orders Samsung to pay $119.6 million to Apple

[JURIST] A jury in the US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website] on Friday ordered Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to pay $119.6 million to Apple Inc [corporate websites] for a finding that the company infringed on two of Apple’s smartphone patents. The jury also found [Reuters report] that Apple infringed one of of Samsung’s patents, and awarded Samsung $158,400. After the jury delivered its verdict, Apple attorneys argued that the award granted should have been much greater, and claimed that the jury had made a mistake in determining the cost of the damages. Judge Lucy Koh ordered the jurors to return on Monday to resolve the issue. Koh must still determine whether or not to issue an injunction against Samsung to prevent further sales of the patent-infringing products, though she denied the request [JURIST report] in March. Apple argues that an order is important to prevent Samsung from future copying with new products using the same features

Samsung and Apple have had numerous disputes [JURIST op-ed] over intellectual property in judicial forums all over the globe. The litigation began [JURIST report] in 2011 when both companies filed lawsuits against the other over the design and functionality of their devices. The success of either party has also varied with the forum. In February Koh issued [JURIST report] an order denying a request by Samsung for a retrial in its patent dispute with Apple, meaning that the award of $290 million in damages will stand. In November a jury awarded [JURIST report] Apple $209 million after finding that Samsung copied a number of iPhone features. That same month, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit [official website] ordered [JURIST report] the reconsideration of Apple’s request for an injunction against Samsung products based on allegations of utility patent infringement. Last year the Obama administration upheld a decision [JURIST report] by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) [official website], which found [JURIST report] that Samsung had violated patents held by Apple relating to movement tracking on touchscreen devices. Earlier that year a Japanese court found [JURIST report] in favor of Samsung in a patent dispute over media-synching software.

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