Apple's $1 billion court case win against Samsung in August 2012 has been cut by $450 million.
The judge in last year's patent case, Lucy Koh, cut damages on several Samsung products found to have infringed upon Apple's patents, with $450.5 million being deducted from the original $1.05 billion judgment.
She also called for a new trial for the damages in order to recalculate them. "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," stated Judge Koh, who is from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
The products she's referring to include the 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. The Prevail accounted for $57.9 million of the damages, which Koh said was a wrong judgment, as the device was found to infringe on solely utility patents and not on design patents.
"We are pleased that the court decided to strike $450,514,650 from the jury's award," Samsung said. "Samsung intends to seek further review as to the remaining award." Apple declined to comment on the ruling.
Until appeals in the case are concluded, Koh added that she would not evaluate evidence regarding post-verdict sales, in addition to the interest generated before the judgment. It's currently unknown when the new trial for the 14 products in question will occur.
Either way, both Samsung and Apple will meet in a new trial during March 2014 over a separate group of patents and products such as the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3.
Following the August judgment in 2012, Samsung pointed towards jury foreman Velvin Hogan's failure to disclose previous litigation with Seagate Technology, a firm in which Samsung is a major investor. It also accused Hogan of purported bias displayed by statements made to the media after the verdict. Samsung, however, was denied a new trial, while Apple had its request to triple the $1.05 billion in damages rejected; judge Koh ruled that Samsung did not willingly infringe upon its rival's patents.
