Samsung ordered to pay Apple nearly $539M in damages

A California jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple nearly $539 million US as financial damages for copying patented design and utility features on the original iPhone in its own phones.

Though a victory for Apple, the size of the sum is something of a split decision. Apple wanted about $1 billion US. Samsung wanted to pay about $28 million.

Samsung must pay about $533.3 million for infringing on design patents. The jury said Samsung owes Apple an additional $5.3 million for infringing on utility patents.

“Today’s decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favour of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages,” Samsung said in a statement.

“We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers.”

Apple issued a very different sounding statement:

“We believe deeply in the value of design, and our teams work tirelessly to create innovative products that delight our customers,” Apple said. “This case has always been about more than money. Apple ignited the smartphone revolution with iPhone and it is a fact that Samsung blatantly copied our design.”

That Apple was due financial damages from its South Korea rival was not at issue when the two leading smartphone companies returned to a San Jose district courtroom last week. But both Apple and Samsung were trying to persuade the jury just how large or small those damages would be.

The patent infringement saga dates back to 2011. In December 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the near $400 million US judgment that Apple had won over allegations that Samsung copied iPhone design features used in its own phones. The figure, based on Samsung’s profits from the sale of such phones, had already been whittled down through the courts from $1.05 billion that a jury awarded Apple in 2012.

Ahead of the retrial, Samsung had already paid $548 million to Apple. But what the Supreme Court effectively did was kick the case back down to the lower courts to have a jury decide how those damages will be calculated.