Peter Suciu for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
On Friday Apple fired another salvo in its continuing court battle with South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung. The California-based company filed a motion to ban Samsung devices that “infringe” on its patents, but Apple also requested a total retrial of the case at the U.S. district court in San Jose.
Even as Samsung and Apple had reached a level of détente, in March it was reported that Apple sought about $2 billion in damages from Samsung for selling handsets and tablet devices that Apple claimed violated five of its mobile software patents. Samsung then fired back that Apple had violated two of its patents.
Apple Insider, which broke the news of the latest court filings, reported that Apple is requesting a complete retrial of the damages case, which ended in a $119.6 million award – far less than the $2.2 billion that Apple had sought.
Apple Insider is also reportedly asserting that any continued sale of Samsung’s infringing product could cause Apple “irreparable harm that cannot be remedied with monetary damages.” However, Apple v Samsung presiding Judge Lucy Koh had denied an injunction in the first California case – noting that Apple’s evidence did not sufficiently prove irreparable harm.
According to Re/Code‘s Dawn Chmielewski, the Cupertino technology company had won its $119.6 million verdict against Samsung after a San Jose jury found that the South Korean tech maker had infringed on Apple’s patents for “data detection/linking,” a feature that could dial a phone number found in an email – and for the “slide to unlock” feature that allowed users to gain access to the device.
This could truly be a case of giants battling giants for the top spot. As redOrbit reported on Friday, Counterpoint’s Market Monitor quarterly tracking program found Apple and Samsung as the top smartphone brands. The two companies accounted for two-thirds of the total of all Q1 smartphone shipments, and the companies had a combined 780 percent of all LTE mobile smartphone shipments.
In other words it could be hard to see irreparable harm for either company. As Venture Beat reported, “there’s little chance Apple’s request for a retrial would be granted. Apple claims a retrial is warranted based on prejudicial claims by Samsung to the jury, and it requests the chance to prove willful infringement of more of its patents by Samsung.”
Samsung already fired back, with spokesperson Adam Yates telling Bloomberg News, “After the jury rejected Apple’s grossly exaggerated damages claim, Apple is once again leaning on the court to push other smartphones out of the market. If granted, this would stifle fair competition and limit choice for American consumers.”
Earlier this month, Apple and Google had agreed to drop all patent-related lawsuits against one another. In a joint statement released just over a week ago the companies sought to bring an end to litigation that began when Motorola Mobility first accused the iOS maker of patent infringement in 2010.
Apple countersued and so began a nearly constant back and forth, one that intensified after Google purchased Motorola Mobility for $12.5 million in 2012. With that case resolved, perhaps Apple is now poised to focus its attention on Samsung again.
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