Appeals Court remands Apple vs. Samsung back to District Court

by Alan Friedman / Feb 08, 2017, 11:33 AM

Appeals Court remands Apple vs. Samsung back to District Court

In August of 2012, Apple won a $1.05 billion jury award against Samsung for infringing on Apple patents. In the aftermath of the verdict, Samsung took the award through various appellate courts. Between appeals and Judge Koh, the award was reduced to $399 million. Samsung says that it should not pay that amount, which covers the use of the iPhone's icon grid, rounded corners and bezels. In December, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled to overturn the verdict and remanded the case back to the Appeals Court. At issue was whether the "article of manufacture" that the damage award is based on refers to a complete phone, or a single component. The difference could mean millions of dollars to both firms.

Last month, the Appeals Court re-opened the case. Apple argued that the $399 million award should stand since Samsung never referred to the "article of manufacture" as being anything less than a whole phone. Samsung wanted the case sent back to lower court for a new trial on damages. This way, Samsung could argue that any damages be limited to the actual components that were infringed. The Appeals Court came in with its ruling yesterday, and decided not to award a victory to either firm. Instead, it remanded the case back to the Northern District Court of California in San Jose, and did not order a new trial on the damages. Instead, the District Court itself will decide the issue over "the article of manufacture," and decide whether a new trial on damages is warranted.

"Section 289 provides, in relevant part, that whoever manufactures or sells “any article of manufacture to which [a patented] design or colorable imitation has been applied shall be liable to the owner to the extent of his total profit.” 35 U.S.C. § 289. The Supreme Court clarified that a damages award under § 289 involves two steps: (1) “identify the ‘article of manufacture’ to which the infringed design has been applied;” and (2) “calculate the infringer’s total profit made on that article of manufacture.” Samsung, 137 S. Ct. at 434. The Court then explained that the only question before it was narrow: "whether, in the case of a multicomponent product, the relevant ‘article of manufacture’ must always be the end product sold to the consumer or whether it can also be a component of that product...On remand, the trial court should consider the parties' arguments in light of the trial record and determine what additional proceedings, if any, are needed," it said. "If the court determines that a new damages trial is necessary, it will have the opportunity to set forth a test for identifying the relevant article of manufacture for purposes of [Section 289 of the Patent Act of 1952] and to apply that test to this case.""-Appeals Court ruling

You might recall the media attention that the case received five years ago, and even Judge Lucy Koh became a minor celebrity. Don't expect the same minute-by-minute coverage this time around. The bad blood between Apple and Samsung five years ago was so powerful that you could almost taste it. These days, things have settled down as both sides seem to co-exist in a sluggishly growing global smartphone market.

source: Scribd via CNET

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16 Comments

1. IosDroid

Posts: 117; Member since: Dec 03, 2015

I hope they can remember what they were initially fighting about...

posted on Feb 08, 2017, 12:18 PM 4

15. TerryTerius unregistered

Millions of people will have began and graduated from college with a bachelors degree by the time this is over with. The entire second half of Obama's presidency took place during this trial. Over half a billion people were born in the time span of this case. The entire landscape of the Phone industry has changed in that time. I don't even see how it matters anymore.

posted on Feb 08, 2017, 11:28 PM 1

2. darkkjedii

Posts: 30972; Member since: Feb 05, 2011

They need to get a room, and plow each other.

posted on Feb 08, 2017, 12:56 PM 2

3. airoid

Posts: 126; Member since: Dec 13, 2016

Now every phone has rounded corner and Apple ain't got any penny. Apple need to patten triangle phone asap that way maybe they'll get some penny in the future .;

posted on Feb 08, 2017, 1:08 PM 1

4. TechieXP1969

Posts: 14967; Member since: Sep 25, 2013

Gosh! Just end this already. The only reason Apple sued Samsung is because, Apple hates when partners compete against them and saw the Galaxy S was potentially going to sell head to head with the iPhone. So Apple sued them to try to slow them down, using some BS patents they should not have been granted to begin with. It's just dumb. Whatever money Apple gets, which will at this point be less than $200M, Apple will be paying it right back to Samsung when they buy or have Samsung fabricate prats for them. Thanks Apple for basically showing us that you were scare of Samsung, because Samsung has to kick your @$$. We know you are scared of them because, there are company's in China that actually make phones that look 100% identical to every iPhone you've ever made. Even to the point they drop a skin over Android that looks 100% idental to the iOS UI; and not once have you raise any lawsuit against them. Even though these shop probably sell far more ripoffs in China that look like your phone, and likely outsells you phone, you don't care and never even sued them. But you chose Samsung who made one, just one frikkin phone that looked similar and that isn't even the one you went after. Apple, just tell the court to drop the suit if Samsung is willing to not sue you for damage of dragging their name through your mud. Oh and with all these lawsuits that you will lose from now on, the last thing you should be in a hurry to do is go to court. Because you blew off Obama who save you from a case you did lose and you spat in his face by not unlocking a phone they asked you to unlock, you no longer have the US Gov't cloak of protection and you will lose more cases in US courts then you will ever win.

posted on Feb 08, 2017, 2:01 PM 4

5. kiko007

Posts: 7493; Member since: Feb 17, 2016

Dude, how many times have I told you; no one is gonna read all that! Learn to summarize! Say it with me now.......Summer......Eyes......Summarize. Your subject matteris too subjective to be this long, work on that!

posted on Feb 08, 2017, 2:18 PM 2

8. Heisenberg

Posts: 373; Member since: Feb 11, 2015

I read everything. Your point??

posted on Feb 08, 2017, 2:42 PM 4

9. kiko007

That your a special snowflake......you wanna cookie? Perhaps a medal? In all seriousness, 90% of the dudes here ignore him outright. He is the village idiot on this site. Most of what he says is ridiculously speculative drivel, and that's putting it kindly. Telling him to tone it down is the least disrespectful way to say it. I could just tell him to STFU, but I'm trying to be polite.

posted on Feb 08, 2017, 2:47 PM 1

10. Plasticsh1t

Posts: 3101; Member since: Sep 01, 2014

You are talking to a brick. He's hopeless.

posted on Feb 08, 2017, 2:52 PM 0

13. darkkjedii

For a bit, I tried to tolerate him, and before long, I was back to just ignoring him. I don't know what Apple did to Techie, but they didn't use any KY Jelly.

posted on Feb 08, 2017, 4:09 PM 0

16. DoggyDangerous

Posts: 1028; Member since: Aug 28, 2015

I appreciate him for being expressive. I don't always read him or other people, but he is consistent with his comments. This is the reason we remember him either in a good way or a bad way.

posted on Feb 09, 2017, 1:53 AM 0

12. darkkjedii

"Summer.....Eyes" dude I'm on the floor off that one LMAOOOOO.

posted on Feb 08, 2017, 4:07 PM 0

7. razmahtaz001

Posts: 501; Member since: May 11, 2013

i dont think apple will lose more cases in the u.s...with trump as president, im sure trump will do everything to favor apple against overseas companies, including vetoing apple sales ban, as did obama LOL

posted on Feb 08, 2017, 2:39 PM 0

14. joey_sfb

Posts: 6794; Member since: Mar 29, 2012

Apple also pay a heavy price attacking Samsung. Samsung also did the world a big favour by getting rid of those ridiculous design patents saving the world from an Apple smartphone apocalypse. Imagine if Apple went after smaller android smartphone brand and won. They would have a much higher chance of keeping those untouchable patents. So i am fully behind Samsung on this. Go get them and destroy every such patent in Apple's arsenal.

posted on Feb 08, 2017, 8:28 PM 0

6. razmahtaz001

this case shouldve been about apple vs android oems....because samsung werent the only ones that had rounded corners, rows of icons, etc...but why only samsung LOL