An appeals court ruling has been asked to be over turned by the U.S. Department of Justice to the Supreme Court and asked that it return the case to the trial court for more litigation. The case is related to a litigation between Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and the appeals court ruling had favored the former over the later.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case after Samsung had appealed a federal appeals court ruling to it. In an amicus brief on Wednesday, the Justice Department submitted its view.
While Samsung told Reuters that it welcomed the "overwhelming support" for overturning the appeals court ruling in favour of Apple from various parties including the U.S. government, an Apple spokeswoman declined to place any comments on the issue.
"If left uncorrected, the appeals court's ruling could lead to diminished innovation, pave the way for design troll patent litigation and negatively impact the economy and consumers," the South Korean firm said.
Since 2011, when Apple sued Samsung in Northern California alleging infringement of the iPhone's patents, designs and trademarked appearance, the world's top smartphone rivals have been feuding over patents.
Samsung was ordered to pay Apple $930 million following a 2012 jury trial and since then the South Korean company has been trying to reduce that figure.
In May 2015, Samsung’s exposure was brought down to $548 million when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the trademark liability and thus the efforts of Samsung were partially rewarded.
However Samsung's infringement of the iPhone's patents, including those related to the designs of the iPhone's rounded-corner front face, bezel and colorful grid of icons were upheld by the appeals court.
Terming the damages that were awarded against it as excessive, the design patent portion of the decision were sought to be reviewed by Samsung who asked the Supreme Court to do so.
The question that if the patent applies only to a component of the product, whether courts should award in damages the total profits from a product that infringes a design patent were agreed to be looked into by the justices in March.
There was potentially not enough evidence to support Samsung’s argument that phone components, not the entire phone, should be what matters when calculating damages and the Justice Department found the existence of evidence unclear in the amicus brief that was filed on Wednesday.
The Justice Department said that to determine whether a new trial is warranted on that issue, the Supreme Court should send the case back for the trial court.
The case is Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al vs. Apple Inc, in the Supreme Court of the United States, No. 15-777.
(Source:www.reuters.com)
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case after Samsung had appealed a federal appeals court ruling to it. In an amicus brief on Wednesday, the Justice Department submitted its view.
While Samsung told Reuters that it welcomed the "overwhelming support" for overturning the appeals court ruling in favour of Apple from various parties including the U.S. government, an Apple spokeswoman declined to place any comments on the issue.
"If left uncorrected, the appeals court's ruling could lead to diminished innovation, pave the way for design troll patent litigation and negatively impact the economy and consumers," the South Korean firm said.
Since 2011, when Apple sued Samsung in Northern California alleging infringement of the iPhone's patents, designs and trademarked appearance, the world's top smartphone rivals have been feuding over patents.
Samsung was ordered to pay Apple $930 million following a 2012 jury trial and since then the South Korean company has been trying to reduce that figure.
In May 2015, Samsung’s exposure was brought down to $548 million when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the trademark liability and thus the efforts of Samsung were partially rewarded.
However Samsung's infringement of the iPhone's patents, including those related to the designs of the iPhone's rounded-corner front face, bezel and colorful grid of icons were upheld by the appeals court.
Terming the damages that were awarded against it as excessive, the design patent portion of the decision were sought to be reviewed by Samsung who asked the Supreme Court to do so.
The question that if the patent applies only to a component of the product, whether courts should award in damages the total profits from a product that infringes a design patent were agreed to be looked into by the justices in March.
There was potentially not enough evidence to support Samsung’s argument that phone components, not the entire phone, should be what matters when calculating damages and the Justice Department found the existence of evidence unclear in the amicus brief that was filed on Wednesday.
The Justice Department said that to determine whether a new trial is warranted on that issue, the Supreme Court should send the case back for the trial court.
The case is Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al vs. Apple Inc, in the Supreme Court of the United States, No. 15-777.
(Source:www.reuters.com)