Ondrej Holzman Apple and Samsung are entering a major patent battle for the second time this week. The court decided that the amount of the fine, which was awarded to Samsung a year ago, must be reviewed. He had originally paying Apple over a billion US dollars. In the end, the amount will probably be lower…
The entire dispute revolves around key iPhone functions and design elements that the South Korean company has copied. During the opening speeches, both sides made it clear how much they intended to gain and pay, respectively. Apple is now demanding $379 million in damages, while Samsung is only willing to pay $52 million.
"Apple is asking for more money than it is entitled to," stated Samsung's lawyer William Price on the first day of the renewed trial. However, he admitted during his speech that the South Korean company had indeed broken the rules and should be punished. However, the amount should be lower. Apple attorney Harold McElhinny countered that Apple's figures are based on lost profits of 114 million, Samsung's profits of 231 million and royalties of 34 million. That adds up to just $379 million.
Apple calculated that if Samsung had not started offering devices that copied Apple's, it would have sold an additional 360 devices. The California company also noted that Samsung sold 10,7 million devices that infringe Apple's patents, which earned it $3,5 billion. "In a fair fight, that money should go to Apple," McElhinny said.
However, the renewed court proceedings are definitely lower than the original ones. Judge Lucy Koh initially fined Samsung $1,049 billion, but eventually backed down this spring and reduced the amount by almost half a billion. According to her, there may have been miscalculations by the jury, which may not have understood the patent issues well, and thus a retrial was ordered.
At the moment, it is not at all clear how long the battle between Apple and Samsung will continue. However, the original verdict was handed down more than a year ago and the second round is only now starting, so it will probably be a long run. Samsung can be a bit happier for now, because despite the reduction of the original fine, it had to pay almost 600 million dollars.
