Samsung's efforts to derail the retrial case for damages in the patent infringement fight it lost to Apple still aren't paying off with the latest blow coming from Judge Lucy Koh refusing to accept the electronics maker's suggested Jury verdict form for next week's trial. Instead, Judge Koh when with Apple's proposal which was much clearer and far less complicated.
Judge Koh approves Apple's Jury form, rejects Samsung's
Apple and Samsung are scheduled for a retrial to determine a part of the damages that were improperly calculated in their mobile device patent infringement trial that wrapped up in August 2012. At the time, a Federal Jury ruled that Samsung was infringing on a long list of Apple's patents, but that Apple wasn't infringing on Samsung's. The Jury awarded Apple over US$1 billion in damages, $365.5 million of which was set aside when the court discovered the Jury's procedural error.
The new trial to determine the actual damages for the devices included in the improper calculations is set to start on November 12, 2013.
Samsung was hoping to push a complicated matrix onto the new Jury that specified different types of damages usch as Apple's lost profits, Samsung's profits, and reasonable royalties, according to Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents. Samsung wanted the new Jury to determine the damages amount as well as what type of damages they were assigning monetary values to.
Judge Koh rejected Samsung's proposal and instead went with Apple's, which was far simpler. The form Apple proposed lists the total damages amount with a per-product breakdown.
"Samsung also couldn't inject certain concepts into the preliminary (pre-argument, pre-evidence) jury instructions," Mr. Mueller said. "For example, it wanted the court to tell the jury that Samsung's infringement was 'not willful.'"
That was nixed by Judge Koh, too, because the Jury in the retrial isn't looking at whether or not Samsung acted willfully. In fact, every attempt Samsung made to interject wording that could sway the Jury into being more sympathetic to its position was rejected.
"In this case, it looks like Judge Koh just wants to reach the point soon at which she can enter a final judgment, which can then be appealed," Mr. Mueller added.
Samsung has already stretched Judge Koh's patience thin thanks to its involvement in leaked confidential licensing documents between Apple and Nokia. The law firm representing Samsung handed over the documents even though they were intended only for special witnesses. The company then allegedly used what it learned from the documents to gain an unfair advantage in its own negotiations with Nokia.
Judge Koh called Samsung's actions and attempted coverup inexcusable, and has been clearly frustrated with the company's resistance to cooperate with the court. Samsung, company executives and its law firm, Quinn Emmanuel, all face the possibility of court sanctions.
Samsung can still object to Judge Koh's decision to use Apple's Jury verdict form, and Judge Koh could make modifications. Considering the company's tactic right now is to add wording that confuses the Jurors, however, the court won't likely show Samsung much sympathy.