Apple-Samsung Lawsuit Continues in Appeals Court

According to Re/Code, an appeals court is due Thursday to hear arguments from both Apple and Samsung in the later’s appeal of the verdict from the first Apple-Samsung case, which ended last year with Apple being awarded $930 million in damages from two juries. Arguing that the verdict was “excessive and unwarranted”, Samsung is now claiming that much, if not all, of that amount should be thrown out.

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Apple says that most of the issues Samsung raises are “factual matters for the trial courts rather than legal questions worthy of appellate review”. The report notes that a brief was filed by 27 law professors on Samsung’s behalf, while Apple’s position has the backing of companies such as Oakley, Kohler and Novo Nordisk, all of which favor strong design patent protections.

“Samsung seeks to belittle Apple’s intellectual property rights and particularly Apple’s design patents, though it tellingly does not challenge the design patents’ validity,” Apple writes in its brief in the case. “Samsung also tries to downplay the extent of its mimicry, but overwhelming evidence demonstrated that Samsung faced a ‘crisis of design’ and addressed it with shameless copying.” Both sides have also lined up “friend of the court” filings from various third parties that agree with their position.

While the two tech giants had agreed in August to drop their non-U.S. litigation, it appears they didn’t come to terms on settling their broader dispute.

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