Apple and Samsung have fought a long and very costly legal battle but it was the Korean company that ended up being slapped with a ruling to uphold damages awarded to Apple. Samsung has now petitioned the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear the case with its entire 12-judge roster, claiming that a three-judge panel that gave the ruling earlier this year erred and thus there is ground to reconsider the ruling.
Apple scored the first victory in this patent infringement lawsuit when Samsung was ordered to pay $1 billion in damages to the Cupertino company, but $450 million were vacated from the damages.
There was a retrial which ended up awarding $290 million out of the vacated $450 million. Apple’s total came to $930 million but Samsung appealed and scored a partial victory as Apple’s damages were reduced to $548 million.
In papers filed with the court, Samsung’s lawyers argue that “Unlike rugs, spoons, and simple mechanical objects, smartphones incorporate hundreds or thousands of different patented technologies, and it is undisputed here that Apple’s design patents claim only partial, minor features of such devices.”
Clearly Samsung is in no mood to pay and put this entire episode behind it, the company is certainly going to take advantage of every legal recourse that it has a right to just so it doesn’t have to pay Apple the damages.
So far there has been no comment from Apple’s camp regarding Samsung’s latest move but we can be sure that Apple will fight till the very end to get those damages. As always, it’s going to be an interesting fight.