Apple court filings claim retrial should be speedy, Samsung wants stay

As expected, Apple has filed a motion with Judge Lucy Koh in the Northern District of California to request a April 3 case management conference in order to expedite the ordered repeat of the damages phase of the first smartphone patent trial between Apple and Samsung. A competitive motion from Samsung was filed after Apple's, with the Korean manufacturer requesting a partial final ruling which Samsung will then appeal -- and based on that, it is requesting a stay of the damages retrial indefinitely.

Apple wrote in its filing that "until the damages retrial is held and supplemental damages are decided, appellate review of the March 1 Order will not be obtainable. No final judgment exists to ground an appeal because the March 1 Order directs further proceedings in this Court. Apple researched avenues for an interlocutory appeal of the March 1 Order, but none proved viable. The likely result of an attempt would be a dismissal of the appeal without a substantive decision. That would only further delay a conclusion to these proceedings. Thus, while interlocutory review may seem inviting, Apple believes attempting it would be futile and would only cause delay."

Apple attempted to get Samsung to agree to the expedited retrial of the damages. Apple's motion says that "attempting appellate review through that vehicle would also likely lead only to dismissal of the appeal with no substantive decision."

Patent analyst Florian Mueller believes that Judge Koh doesn't want any further delay caused by the appeals from Samsung that are likely to be dismissed. Barring the judge's approval of the Samsung delay, Mueller states that "Apple and Samsung could at least agree on a schedule for the briefing process relating to Samsung's forthcoming motion for a Rule 54(b) judgment.

Apple will file its opposition brief on March 26, and Samsung will reply to that one three days later. The parties didn't agree on a hearing date, but the stipulated briefing schedule makes Apple's requested hearing date a possibility."

The $451 million in damages slated to be retried are associated with 14 Samsung products. The products involved include the Galaxy Prevail, Gem, Indulge, Infuse 4G, Galaxy S II AT&T, Captivate, Continuum, Droid Charge, Epic 4G, Exhibit 4G, Galaxy Tab, Nexus S 4G, Replenish, and Transform. Apple is still owed $599 million as a result of the trial beyond the challenged devices, which will accumulate interest at a rate of 0.16 percent until paid in full. Additionally, supplemental damages from the period between the original verdict in August and the final judgement yet to be determined will be based on actual sales figures of the infringing devices, meaning Samsung could end up paying even more than the $1.05 billion originally awarded by the jury.

The new trial is not prejudicial against Apple or necessarily beneficial for Samsung, and is intended to clarify the nature of the infringement and which patents are held in violation for a more granular determination of what is owed. Damages for the infringement, however, could be higher or lower, and will be determined by a new jury.

13-03-01 Apple v Samsung Final Order on Damages

By Electronista Staff

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