The new damages trial in the ongoing mobile device patent infringement fight between Apple and Samsung is officially on hold. The trial was set to start on Monday, March 28th, but is now waiting on the U.S. Supreme Court to review Samsung's appeal.
Apple, Samsung damages retrial on hold
Apple and Samsung's legal fight goes back to 2011 when the two filed lawsuits alleging patent infringement. Apple said Samsung blatantly copied the iPhone with its smartphone designs, and a jury agreed. Apple was ultimately awarded over US$900 million in damages.
Samsung failed to convince the jury Apple infringed on any of its patents and has been appealing the ruling ever since. The latest round put the case in front of the Supreme Court who will give their ruling after the next session starts in October.
Samsung finally paid Apple $548 million at the end of last year, but plans to demand its money back—plus interest—should the Supreme Court rule in its favor. The remaining damages amount was going to be the focus of next week's trial.
The Supreme Court is going to give its opinion on whether damages from infringement rulings should be limited to specific component values, or encompass the value of complete devices. Samsung had hoped to convince the court to rule on what should be the scope of patent rulings related to ornamental features, too.
Apple hasn't commented on Judge Lucy Koh's decision to postpone the damages retrial, but had been pushing to move forward even though the Supreme Court agreed to hear Samsung's appeal. Samsung's legal team is, of course, pleased to see the retrial put on hold.
[Thanks to CNET for the heads up]