Samsung made its next move in its ongoing patent infringement fight with Apple by filing an appeal in hopes of getting everything from Apple's 2014 win in their second case overturned. The electronics maker is pushing to get the US$119 million Apple was awarded tossed out, and is working to block Apple's efforts to get a retrial in the case.
Samsung appeals everything is second patent infringement case with Apple
This second patent infringement case was similar in the first the two fought in that they accused each other of using each other's mobile device patents without licensing. In both cases, Apple came out the victor, although in the second case that win wasn't nearly the landslide it saw in the first where the court ordered Samsung to pay $900,000 in damages. Samsung vowed to appeal Apple's victory and is now following through.
Samsung wants to avoid a retrial because that would turn into a gamble where it could end up with a far worse result than it saw last year.
"Samsung still doesn't want a new damages trial on Apple's patents," said Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents. "For a jury that reached a decision on Apple's home turf, despite statistics that U.S. juries tend to favor U.S. companies over foreign rivals to a far greater extent than U.S. judges do, this was a really good outcome for Samsung and a retrial would come with a risk of a greater damages award that seems considerably bigger than the opportunity for Samsung to reduce the amount on retrial."
Apple's first request for a retrial was denied last year, but that doesn't mean the iPhone and iPad maker can't keep trying.
While both companies are pushing for the outcomes they'd prefer in this case, they have scaled back their extended patent fight in other ways. The jointly dropped their infringement cases against each other outside of the U.S. last year, and are now focusing on their appeals in both in-country trials.
Samsung targeted Apple's "quick links" patent '647 as part of its appeal saying the smartphones and tablets it makes don't use key parts of Apple's design in the way they they link actions and data structures. If Samsung can sway the court, Apple would lose out on most of the damages it was awarded in the second case.
Along with the quick links patent, Samsung is also working to get Apple's slide to unlock, autocomplete, synchronization, and unified search patents invalidated.
For Samsung, following the appeals path has a higher likelihood of working out in its favor than rehashing the trial. For Apple, a retrial opens up the possibility of a better damages award. "In order to get a more significant win out of this second California case, Apple would need the appeals court to order a new trial," Mr. Mueller said.
Both sides clearly want to change last year's verdict into something that serves them better, and need need to follow very different strategies to reach their goals. With Samsung's new appeal in the court's hands both companies will be working hard to get what they want, which ultimately is in the Appeals Court's hands.