Apple and Samsung have been locked in a legal battle over various design patents related to the iPhone since 2011. After nearly six years and a trip all the way to the Supreme Court and back, Apple and Samsung came to a settlement agreement this week and the case was dismissed.
Apple had previously been awarded $399 million in damages for Samsung’s design patent infringement, but that calculation was based on the profits made from the sales of whole Samsung infringing smartphones as single end products. The Supreme Court overturned the damages award and remanded the case for consideration as to whether Apple’s design patents were to a component of a phone, and if so, whether Samsung was then only liable for a portion of the profit on an entire infringing Samsung phone sale. On remand, the jury awarded Apple $539 million in damages for design patent infringement. Samsung moved to have the new higher damages amount set aside, but before the court could rule, Apple and Samsung settled all their claims against one another. The settlement and the two clearly different damages results leave open the question of how to apportion damages for design patent infringement.
Read the dismissal motion here.
Read the dismissal order here.