Remember when Samsung Electronics was ordered to pay Apple $1.05 billion? Apple asked Judge Lucy Koh to have that amount tripled, but she denied that request. However Samsung was also denied the right to have a new trial even though it was determined that the company did not willfully infringe Apple’s iPad patents.
In a civil lawsuit that was filed against by five technology workers against Apple, Google, Intel, and other companies, it was revealed that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had threatened to file a patent lawsuit against Palm if they did not agree to stop poaching his employees. The five employees allege that this was an illegal conspiracy to eliminate competition for each other’s employees and drove down wages. These tech companies tried to keep documents around employee retention secret. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh had rejected parts of that request.
Samsung Electronics will not be able to keep sales data on some of their products sealed in a U.S. patent dispute with Apple. Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose denied Samsung’s request to keep the sales data secret. Samsung is appealing a sealing order from earlier. Apple won a $1.05 billion lawsuit against Samsung on August 24th when a jury ruled that Samsung infringed 6 Apple patents around technology and design.
Samsung Electronics is abandoning their attempts to seek a sales ban on the Apple iPhone and iPad in Europe based on patents related to wireless standards. This may be a way for Samsung to stop regulators from investigating Samsung’s use of the standard wireless patents. Earlier this week Judge Lucy Koh refused to block the sales of dozens of Samsung mobile devices that a jury found violated numerous Apple patents.
Even though a court in California ruled that Samsung must pay Apple $1 billion, Apple still wants more. In a motion that was filed this past Friday, Apple requested Judge Lucy Koh to pay an additional $707 million in damages. This would bring the amount close to $2 billion. Apple filed a 43-page motion that requested a permanent sales ban on 26 Samsung smartphones and tablets.
This past Tuesday, Judge Lucy Koh set a December 6 court date to hear Apple’s request for a permanent injunction against Samsung’s smartphones. This could delay the potential impact of Apple’s victory against Samsung. Apple named 8 Samsung devices that they want banned in the U.S. A hearing about the preliminary injunctions are scheduled for September 20, but it unknown whether this issue will be addressed at that hearing or on December. Since the scope of Apple’s preliminary injunction request, Judge Lucy Koh believed it was “appropriate” that post-trial motions be consolidated. The September 20th hearing will revolve around Samsung’s request to dissolve a sales ban against the Galaxy Tab 10.1. [Reuters]
Samsung Electronics’ CEO Kwon Oh Hyun will be meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook today to see if it is possible to resolve their lawsuits before a U.S. jury begins to deliberate on the patents. The lawyers of Samsung and Apple are reporting to Judge Lucy Koh in a San Jose, California federal court. Judge Koh asked the two CEOs to talk and she said that she was “pathologically optimistic” that they could settle their claims over design and technology patents for smartphones and tablets. Executives at the two companies met before the trial started and were unable to reach an agreement. The two sides of the companies are still filing motions with the court about jury instructions and exhibits. At one point, Judge Koh got so frustrated with Apple’s list of witness that she said “unless you’re smoking crack you know these witnesses aren’t going to be called!”
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California is overseeing the patent lawsuits between Samsung and Apple. She has overseen around 19 nationwide litigations between Apple and associated patents. Judge Koh recently received a 75-page briefing from Apple that has covered 22 potential rebuttal witnesses that the company might want to call after Samsung is done presenting their case.
