Jury awards Apple $290 mn in Samsung patent case

Google – AFP, 21 November 2013

Samsung's new Galaxy S4 is seen during its unveiling in this March 14, 2013

file photo at Radio City Music Hall in New York (AFP/File, Don Emmert)

San José (United States) — A US federal jury Thursday ordered Samsung to pay $290 million in damages to Apple in a partial retrial of the blockbuster patent case involving the two smartphone giants.

The award comes instead of $450 million in damages originally awarded in the landmark suit, but thrown out by a judge. It is in addition to nearly $600 million in patent infringement damages upheld from the trial last year.

Apple has accused its South Korean rival of massive and willful copying of its designs and technology for smartphones and tablets and won the landmark case in a jury decision in August 2012. But the case has been on hold pending multiple appeals.

The original verdict for some $1 billion was reduced in March when Judge Lucy Koh invalidated some $450 million and ordered a retrial on portions of the case.

Even though Apple won the landmark case last year, this has not had much impact on the new smartphones hitting the market, though the California maker of the iPhone is seeking injunctions to bar some Samsung products from being sold in the United States.