Judge Lucy Koh ruled in a court filing (via The Verge) tonight that Samsung did not willfully infringe Apple patents. This decision denies any additional damages to the $1.05 billion awarded to Apple last August.
As this is the sum total of Apple’s arguments and evidence that Samsung’s infringement was willful, the Court cannot conclude that Apple has met its burden to show willfulness by clear and convincing evidence.
Samsung argued that they had reason to believe that Apple’s patents were invalid and therefore did not willfully infringe Apple patents – Samsung basically didn’t believe they did anything wrong. Judge Koh believed that Samsung’s argument was reasonable enough to rule out willful infringement but not strong enough to overturn the validity of Apple’s patents.
Judge Koh also denied Samsung’s bid for a new trial, saying that „the trial was fairly conducted, with uniform time limits and rules of evidence applied on both sides.“ She went on to write that „a new trial would be contrary to the interests of justice.“
If Samsung had been found to be willfully infringing Apple patents their penalty might have ballooned well over $1.05 billion that they must pay Apple. In December, Judge Koh had denied another Samsung retrial request based on juror misconduct. The decision is yet another milestone in the long saga that is Samsung v. Apple.
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Judge Koh Rules That Samsung Did Not Willfully Infringe Apple Patents [iOS Blog]