Samsung wins US appeal in Apple patent case

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - A US appeals court on Friday handed Samsung a win over Apple in a long-running patent fight, overriding a jury verdict ordering it to pay $119.6 million to the iPhone maker.

The court ruled that two Apple patents at issue were not valid, according to a copy of the decision posted online.

"We are delighted with the resounding victory from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which found that two of Apple's patents should never have been issued," Samsung said in a statement.

"Today's decision is a win for consumer choice and puts competition back where it belongs -- in the marketplace, not in the courtroom."

Apple originally filed the suit against Samsung in early 2012, accusing the South Korean consumer electronics giant of infringing on an array of patents related to smartphones.

Samsung denied it had done anything wrong and filed a countersuit saying that Apple had infringed on some of its patents.

The number of patents involved was whittled down during the lengthy litigation process.

Three Apple patents and two Samsung patents were at issue in the appeal ruled on Friday.

Apple had sought some $2.2 billion at trial, only to have a jury award the California-based company $119.6 million.

The panel of appeals court judges ruled that Samsung did not infringe on one of the Apple patents and that the remaining two, which involved auto-correct and slide-to-unlock features, were not valid, nullifying the jury award, according to a copy of the decision.

The appeals court endorsed the jury's decision ordering Apple to pay Samsung $158,500 for infringing one of the South Korean company's patents.

Samsung in December paid smartphone rival Apple just over $548 million in a different years-long patent battle in federal court in California. That case has been appealed to the US Supreme Court.

Arch-rivals Samsung and Apple decided in 2014 to drop all patent disputes outside the United States, marking a partial ceasefire in a seemingly relentless legal war between the world's two largest smartphone makers.

The companies have battled in close to a dozen countries, with each accusing the other of infringing on various patents related to their flagship smartphone and tablet products.

But neither has managed to deliver a knock-out blow with a number of rulings going different ways, and the announcement they agreed to drop all litigation outside the United States suggested a line was finally being drawn.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Samsung asks appeals court to toss out $930M award to Apple

WASHINGTON - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd asked a U.S. appeals court on Thursday to toss out an order that it pay Apple Inc $930 million for infringing on iPhone patents to make its Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets.

The hearing at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was the latest fight between the two smartphone makers, which have been litigating around the world for three years, each accusing the other of infringing patents in making smartphones and other mobile devices.

They have essentially fought to a draw in about a dozen countries, but in August announced that they had agreed to withdraw all patent lawsuits against each other except in the United States.

In this case, Samsung asked the court to throw out a decision from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California which had found that Samsung infringed Apple patents and ordered it to pay the iPhone and iPad maker $930 million, a reduction from an earlier award of $1 billion.

Kathleen Sullivan, a lawyer with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP who represents Samsung, argued that the lower court erred in deciding that the design and trade dress patents were infringed because the Samsung phones did not carry an Apple logo, did not have a "home" button like an iPhone and had speaker slots in different places than the Apple phones.

"Apple was awarded Samsung's total profits on those (Samsung) phones, which was absurd," she said, arguing that it was akin to awarding entire profits on a car because of an infringing cup holder.

Arguing for Apple, William Lee of the law firm Wilmer Hale disagreed. "This is not the cup holder," he said.

He argued that the $930 million verdict was the right decision.

"What Samsung is actually asking you to do ... is to substitute yourself for Judge Koh and the jury," he said.

The three judges on the panel did not indicate which side they supported, and did not indicate when they would rule.

Apple and companies that make phones using Google's Android software, such as Samsung's top-selling Galaxy, have filed dozens of infringement lawsuits against one another around the world to protect their technology. Apple and Google Inc's Motorola Mobility unit, which has since been purchased by Lenovo, agreed in May to settle all smartphone patent litigation between them.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com