Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Samsung Asks Supreme Court to Take Up Its Apple Patent Case

The Korean electronics giant says the case brings up larger issues around how design patents are enforced.

Orhan Cam / Shutterstock

Samsung is taking its battle with Apple to the Supreme Court.

Although it has already written Apple a $548 million check, the Korean electronics giant insists that not only was the verdict in the patent case incorrect, but it highlights a flaw in the patent world that the nation’s highest court needs to fix.

In its appeal of the case, Samsung maintains that the jury in this case wasn’t — and in most design patent cases isn’t — given enough information about how to understand the patents. With utility patents, the presiding judge instructs a jury on how to interpret the patent and what it covers, but far more limited guidance is given with regard to design patents.

Samsung also takes issue with the way design patent damages are calculated, noting that a company can sue to recover the entirety of another’s profits. In theory, Samsung notes, a company found to infringe on multiple firms’ design patents could have to pay out the total value of its profits multiple times.

“Samsung is escalating this case because it believes that the way the laws were interpreted is not in line with modern times,” it said in a statement. “If the current legal precedent stands, it could diminish innovation, stifle competition, pave the way for design patent troll litigation and negatively impact the economy and consumers.”

The Supreme Court appeal has to do with the first Apple-Samsung trial. A later trial on a newer generation of patents also found Samsung had infringed, but awarded just $119 million in damages.

Samsung and Apple agreed last year to drop all litigation outside of the United States, meaning that the appeals of these two verdicts are the only remaining legal issues in what was at one time a battle on four continents (North America, Europe, Australia and Asia).

Appeals courts have already trimmed the amount Samsung has to pay from the first case. Two juries in that case awarded Apple $930 million in damages.

If you want to read the full, 200-plus-page filing, it’s here:

Samsung vs Apple – Samsung’s Appeal to the Supreme Court

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

Podcasts
Anthropic just made AI scarierAnthropic just made AI scarier
Podcast
Podcasts

Why the company’s new AI model is a cybersecurity nightmare.

By Dustin DeSoto and Sean Rameswaram
Politics
The Supreme Court will decide when the police can use your phone to track youThe Supreme Court will decide when the police can use your phone to track you
Politics

Chatrie v. United States asks what limits the Constitution places on the surveillance state in an age of cellphones.

By Ian Millhiser
Future Perfect
The simple question that could change your careerThe simple question that could change your career
Future Perfect

Making a difference in the world doesn’t require changing your job.

By Bryan Walsh
Technology
The case for AI realismThe case for AI realism
Technology

AI isn’t going to be the end of the world — no matter what this documentary sometimes argues.

By Shayna Korol
Politics
OpenAI’s oddly socialist, wildly hypocritical new economic agendaOpenAI’s oddly socialist, wildly hypocritical new economic agenda
Politics

The AI company released a set of highly progressive policy ideas. There’s just one small problem.

By Eric Levitz
Future Perfect
Human bodies aren’t ready to travel to Mars. Space medicine can help.Human bodies aren’t ready to travel to Mars. Space medicine can help.
Future Perfect

Protecting astronauts in space — and maybe even Mars — will help transform health on Earth.

By Shayna Korol