Finally, some clarity on the $1 billion jury ruling from the big trial with Samsung last summer. Samsung had a wish list that included dismissing the case entirely, while Apple made a pitch for triple damages, among other things. Judge Lucy Koh finally ruled on most of the issues; would Samsung get off scot-free, or would Apple be lugging an even bigger check to the bank? Also, if you are able to invest in companies, and one of the companies is doing really well and earning a lot of profit, is your next move really to sue them?
After the massive ruling last August, both Apple and Samsung made a flurry of filings to court. We already know from a ruling last December that Samsung's request to dismiss the trial for jury misconduct was tossed out of court, as was Apple's request for a permeant injunction against the infringing Samsung products (though issue this is still in a separate appeals process). As for most of the rest of the requests, Judge Koh took care of business yesterday, and both companies got a little of what they wanted and a little of what they didn't want.
According to Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents, Judge Koh issued four post-trial rulings yesterday at the close of business. First, Judge Koh decided to overrule the jury's decision that Samsung willfully infringed, although she did not lessen the damages. Then, because there was no willful infringement, Apple's request for triple damages was denied. Finally, Judge Koh denied Apple's request for a new trial on the few issues it did not win last August, and also denied Samsung's request to have several Apple patents invalidated.
Whew. Now we'll only have to pay $1 billion.
So, at this point, it appears that the fundamental principals of last summer's jury verdict will be maintained, without any significant changes for either party. In other words, Apple won a huge verdict against Samsung last August, and after almost six months of appeals and motions, lawyer fees and courtroom resources, Cupertino still won a huge verdict against Samsung last August. Perhaps this will finally bring us to the finish line of this trial between the famous frenemies, which would be great, so we can all get ready for next trial between both companies, already on the books for 2014.
You know who's getting annoyed at all the cash Apple is earning and piling up? The people who invest in Apple. According to a report in Bloomberg, some of those investors might be getting a little tired of the situation, and could file a lawsuit against Cupertino.
The reported quoted Lawrence Haverty, a portfolio manager at Gamco Investors Inc. as stating, “Someone is going to sue them for excessive accumulation of cash.” There was nothing specific mentioned about an existing or pending lawsuit, but frustration is clearly starting to build. Apparently, investing in a company that makes a lot of money is only great if that company hands healthy amounts of that cash back to the investors.
I make it rain, I make it rain on them stocks!
According to the report, Apple pays out a 2.4 percent dividend, which is less than Intel Corp. (4.3 percent), Hewlett-Packard (3.1 percent) and Microsoft (3.3 percent). We hear some people use the phrase "first-world problems" and wonder if perhaps this falls into that category.
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