The United States Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Apple-Samsung Design Patent Related Damages Issue

On March 21, 2016, the Unites States Supreme Court (USSC) granted a petition by Samsung Electronics Co. (Samsung) to hear an appeal from a particular aspect of the damages awarded against Samsung in the widely reported patent infringement finding against Samsung and in favour of Apple Inc (Apple).  The USSC will hear argument on the following question:  where a design patent relating to only a component of a product is infringed, should an award of infringer profits be limited to those profits attributable to that particular component?

As a brief review of this case: at the district court level, a jury awarded Apple more than $1 billion dollars in total damages, which included damages for Samsung’s infringement of Apple’s trade dress and its utility and design patents.  For those damages relating to infringement of Apple’s design patents, the jury awarded Apple the entire profit earned by Samsung from sales of infringing smartphones.  Samsung appealed the decision to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) and lost; however, the CAFC vacated that portion of the damages relating to trade dress, reducing Apple’s total award to $548 million: $149 million for utility patent infringement and $399 million for design patent infringement.  The CAFC refused to re-hear the appeal en banc.  The USSC will now hear argument on whether Apple is entitled the $399 million amount, comprising Samsung’s entire profits from sale of infringing smartphones.

For prior reporting on this case in E-TIPS® newsletter, click here and here.