Samsung Scores Legal Win Over Apple In Patent Feud
Summary
In perhaps Samsung’s biggest legal win over Apple in their long-running patent war, a federal apppeals court Friday overturned a 2014 verdict that slapped the South Korean tech giant with nearly $120 million in damages for copying certain iPhone features.
The U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals dismantled a San Jose jury’s findings in the second trial between the two rivals, essentially concluding that the technology at the heart of Apple’s lawsuit was so obvious that Samsung could not be punished for incorporating it into its smartphones. The appeals court added salt to Apple’s wound by upholding a $158,000 judgment against the Cupertino company for infringing a Samsung tech patent involving camera features.
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“In sheer dollar terms, it isn’t that significant compared to the first trial,” Mark Lemley, a Stanford University law professor, said of the ruling wiping out the second trial verdict. “But it is consistent with the idea that this fight is likely to end, not with a bang, but with a whimper.”
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