Apple vs Samsung Case Should Return to Lower Court: DoJ

In an amicus brief submitted on Samsung’s behalf, the US Department of Justice has urged the Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court ruling that was in Apple’s favour and return the Apple vs. Samsung patent case to trial, according to Reuters.

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The amicus brief was submitted on Wednesday as the Supreme Court had agreed to hear the patent litigation case that has been running since 2011.

This is another milestone in the ongoing legal battle between the two tech giants: Samsung turned to the Supreme court to review the design portion of the ruling after the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld Samsung’s infringement of the iPhone’s design patents, while lowering the damages award to $548 million.

In its amicus brief on Wednesday, the Justice Department said it was unclear whether Samsung had produced enough evidence to support its argument that phone components, not the entire phone, should be what matters when calculating damages.

The Supreme Court should send the case back for the trial court to determine whether a new trial is warranted on that issue, the Justice Department said.

The final option Samsung had after this ruling was the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case in March.

Apple was initially awarded more than $1 billion in damages, which was later adjusted to close to $1 billion. A significant part of the damages award was wiped off in 2015, so the total amount Samsung ultimately paid to Apple was $548 million. Now, however, Samsung has a chance to win back that money from Apple.

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