Wilmington, Delaware: Apple Inc. asked a judge to award an extra $535 million in its US patent case with Samsung Electronics Co. in addition to its requested permanent injunction against sales of Samsung’s infringing products.
“The harm to Apple was deliberate, not accidental,” Apple attorneys said in court papers filed on September 21 in the US District Court in San Jose, California. Samsung “willfully diluted its trade dress, taking billions in sales in the fast-growing US smartphone market at a key moment in the transition between feature phones and smartphones,” attorneys said.
Cupertino, California-based Apple sued Samsung in April 2011, and Samsung countersued as part of a battle being waged on four continents over a smartphone market valued by Bloomberg Industries at $219.1 billion. The companies have also sued each other in the UK, Australia and South Korea.
In August, Apple won a jury verdict of more than $1.05 billion against Samsung after a finding that Samsung infringed six of seven patents for the mobile devices.
Apple is requesting an enhancement of $135 million under the Patent Act and $400 million under the Lanham Act, for a combined total of $535 million, compared with $268 million from the verdict under both statutes, court papers show. The court may increase the damages up to three times the amount assessed, court papers show.
Insufficient evidence
“Many of the jury’s determinations and their damage calculations were based on insufficient evidence and questionable decision-making procedures,” Samsung said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. “Apple is requesting permanent injunctions and additional damages based on these highly questionable prior decisions.”
In its September 21 brief, lawyers for Samsung told the judge Apple didn’t present convincing evidence of intentional infringement, and doesn’t deserve treble damages. Samsung is seeking to have the damages thrown out, the verdict overturned, and/or a new trial, according to court papers.
