A short time ago, in a state far, far away, Apple Inc. (Apple) filed a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics, Co., Ltd. (Samsung) arguing that Samsung infringed on patents for design elements that Apple holds. While the lawsuit started in the California Northern District Court, the battle spread to 50 lawsuits around the globe, all over the same issue. Apple raised several federal and state claims such as trade dress infringement, trademark infringement, unfair business practices under the California Business and Professions Code, unjust enrichment, infringement of design patents, and infringement of the several specific patents.[1]
One of the biggest issues of the case was deciding the damages. In its “Prayer for Relief,” Apple asks the court to take into account wrongful profit that Samsung may have gained, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees. Interestingly, Apple asked the court to preliminarily and permanently enjoin Samsung, and anyone acting in concert with them, from further acts of infringement.[2] At first, the jury awarded Apple over one billion dollars, however, on retrial, the damages were lowered to 300 million.[3]
On October 11, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States(SCOTUS) heard an argument from Samsung Electronics, Co., Ltd. (Samsung) and Apple Inc. (Apple). The issue on appeal is “if an infringed design patent only applies to a component of a product, should damages for the infringement be limited to the portion of the infringer’s profits attributable to that component?”[4] Oral argument was lively and extremely interesting, and SCOTUS has a fun task ahead of them, in deciding this case.
[1] Nilay Patel, Apple Sues Samsung: a complete lawsuit analysis, The Verge, (Apr. 19, 2011) http://www.theverge.com/2011/04/19/apple-sues-samsung-analysis.
[2] Complaint at 36, Apple, Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., 678 F.3d 1314 (N.D. Cal. 2011) (No. 11 1846).
[3] Samsung Electronics v. Apple, Oyez, https://www.oyez.org/cases/2016/15-777 (last visited Oct 15, 2016).
[4] Id.