Apple (NASDAQ:
AAPL
) has repeatedly argued that Samsung is guilty of patent
infringement. This has led to several dozen lawsuits worldwide as
both firms sue (and counter-sue) in an attempt to gain the upper
hand. Their biggest trial concluded last August after an American
jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple
$1 billion in damages
.
At the time, Samsung was expected to appeal the case. The
South Korean tech giant followed through with these expectations,
gathered some evidence against the jury foreman and
requested a new trial
. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh denied the request.
After considering how the jury calculated its penalty,
however, Koh decided to
reduce the fee
to $550 million. She also ordered another trial so that a new
jury can decide how much Samsung should pay.
By the time this dispute is over, Apple and Samsung will have
spent more than two years on the battle. Not long after, the two
tech titans will begin their next domestic feud.
According to
AllThingsD
, Koh has ruled that another Apple suit can head to court. This
one involves another batch of patent infringement claims,
including one surrounding Siri's voice search technology.
Hoping to shorten the length of the next trial, Koh told both
parties to reduce the scope of the case. Without any specific
guidelines (Koh merely said that Apple and Samsung should trim
their claims and expert witness testimony), however, it might be
difficult for these tech giants to hold back. Samsung may fear
that its case could be weakened by the reduction; Apple may feel
the same way. Thus, they might simply proceed as normal to see if
Koh orders any further instructions.
If so, this would not be the first time that Apple attorneys
disobeyed a court order. Last fall the company
angered multiple judges
in the United Kingdom after it altered the notice it was ordered
to publish online. The judges wanted Apple to "correct any
impression" that Samsung was copying its products. Apple complied
but decided to defend itself by mentioning a more favorable
verdict from a German court.
Domestically, Apple and Samsung are scheduled to begin their
third trial in March 2014. This gives the two firms exactly one
year to prepare for battle. It will be up to a jury to decide if
Samsung infringed on Apple's voice search technology and other
(currently unnamed) patents.
Meanwhile, the date for the second trial (the one in which a
jury will only decide how much Samsung has to pay Apple for
infringing on another set of patents) will take place sometime
this year.
Follow me
@LouisBedigianBZ
(c) 2013 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment
advice. All rights reserved.
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