Judge slashes Apple's $1.05 billion judgment against Samsung, orders new trial for damages

Samsung earned a tiny victory in its ongoing patent-related legal dispute with Apple. Though a jury last August ruled that Samsung should pay $1.05 billion to Apple for patent and trademark infringement in its Galaxy Android products, U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh has dropped the damages to nearly $599 million. Judge Koh denied Apple's request for higher damages to be paid by Samsung, decreased the penalty by more than 40 percent, and ordered that a new trial be conducted to determine damages on select items.

In her ruling, Judge Koh explained that the jury incorrectly awarded damages based on Samsung's profits for eight devices found to infringe on Apple' intellectual property. The jury should not have awarded infringer's profits for the patent that they were found to violate, so the rewards had to be removed from the amount of damages Samsung is expected to pay. Koh then concluded:

Because the Court has identified an impermissible legal theory on which the jury based its award, and cannot reasonably calculate the amount of excess while effectuating the intent of the jury, the Court hereby ORDERS a new trial on damages for the following products: Galaxy Prevail, Gem, Indulge, Infuse 4G, Galaxy SII AT&T, Captivate, Continuum, Droid Charge, Epic 4G, Exhibit 4G, Galaxy Tab, Nexus S 4G, Replenish, and Transform. This amounts to $450,514,650 being stricken from the jury?s award. The parties are encouraged to seek appellate review of this Order before any new trial.