It was, clearly, the biggest patent lawsuit of the year in the tech industry, and it originally resulted in a $1 billion decision for Apple, to be paid by Samsung. However, whenever that many zeroes are involved in a lawsuit, you can be sure there will be lots and lots of appeals, motions, whining, and crying after the fact. The first post-trial rulings were issued this week: did the court grant more big wins for Apple, or did Samsung manage to salvage something from their summertime courtroom wreckage? Read on!
Judge Lucy Koh issued a pair of rulings on Monday that perhaps give some final shape to Apple's big courtroom win over Samsung this past summer. The first decision, which should come as no surprise to anyone except the most blindly faithful Samsung fans, dismissed the claim that there was jury misconduct in the original ruling.
Almost immediately following the ruling, Samsung began a rather nasty campaign to discredit the jury foreman, implying that a bankruptcy case he was involved in 20 years prior may have corrupted his judgement. Ignoring the fact that they could have fretted about this vetting themselves before actually selecting the jury member, Samsung went on to disclose personal details of the bankruptcy case amid several wild and unsubstantiated rumors.
Judge Koh dismissed the claims on standard legal grounds, stating that the juror's post-verdict comments were irrelevant, that his past history was irrelevant, and that since no relevant evidence was presented, "the Court must apply the well established presumption that the jury followed the law."
We think Judge Koh probably could have been a little harsher toward Samsung for kicking over this hornet's nest in the first place. Surely, no company wants to write a $1 billion check, but bitterly dragging a jury member through the mud for nothing short of petty revenge seems rather, well, mean.
Who, me?
Monday's other ruling went the way of Samsung, sort of, as Judge Koh denied Apple's request for an injunction against all of the infringing Samsung devices. "Apple has not established that the equities support an injunction," Judge Koh stated. The devices in question were older and now rather obsolete models, so barring them from being sold isn't anywhere near the most important element in this case.
Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents points out that Apple will surely appeal, and that "if Apple doesn't win one (injunction) in this case, no patent holder in this industry ever will." Having an injuction granted will set a precedent that could be applied to future lawsuits. Regardless, Mueller goes on to explain that being able to sell the infringing products does not mean that Samsung is allowed to infringe. The infringement was still proven in court, and the big check that Samsung has to write is still out there.
More importantly, though, is that while the result of this ruling is that Samsung will be able to sell the infringing products, they will have to pay Apple to do so, and at rates yet to be determined. Oh, and those rates will apply to future infringing products as well. Like the other litigation that the two companies currently are getting underway, regarding much more recent Samsung models.
So, stay tuned, because the biggest decision in this case is yet to come.
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