Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Judge denies Samsung motion to stay Apple's patent case, will hand down final judgment

As I mentioned in my previous post, this is largely (though not completely) a week off for me. That's why I'll keep this very short. While the retrial jury, which ultimately awarded Apple $290 million in damages replacing a $410 million of the original verdict (resulting now in total damages, subject to appeal, of $929 million), was deliberating, Samsung brought an emergecy motion to stay the whole case pending reexamination of Apple's '915 pinch-to-zoom API patent. Its lawyers untruthfully said that Apple's only procedural option left (in order to salvage the patent) was a notice of appeal, but Apple pointed in its response to what the actual USPTO communication said, which was the opposite, and said Samsung's stalling strategy had "crossed the bounds of reason".

Late on Monday, Judge Koh agreed with Apple and denied Samsung's motion. She, too, explains the other options (than an appeal) left for Apple to influence the outcome of the reexamination. She considers it the most efficient way forward to hand down a final district court judgment and have Samsung appeal the district court ruling, including the validity of the '915 patent. Should the Federal Circuit overrule the district court on any of the underlying liability findings (from the first trial), a complete retrial involving all products (at least all products originally found to infringe a patent with respect to which the Federal Circuit reverses the liability finding) will be necessary, Judge Koh's order explains. Here's the order:

13-11-25 Order Denying Samsung Motion to Stay Apple Case by Florian Mueller

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