Apple may seek expanded Samsung ban covering future phones

Reading Time:4 minutes

A judge in California is due to hear arguments from Apple later on Friday, while Samsung Electronics is expected to ask the court to throw out a US$1.05 billion verdict handed down against the South Korean consumer electronics giant. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:14am, 7 Dec 2012Updated: 5:55pm, 3 Jul 2018

Apple, trying to regain lost smartphone market share from Samsung Electronics, may push to add unreleased Samsung mobile products to a permanent US sales ban it’s seeking after winning a US$1.05 billion verdict.

US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, on Friday is hearing Apple’s arguments that a jury’s finding in August that Samsung infringed six patents justifies a ban on US sales of at least 25 of its phones and tablet computers.

She will also hear Samsung’s argument that the verdict should be thrown out because of alleged misconduct by the jury’s foreman.

Koh said at the start of the hearing that while the jury was precise and consistent in calculating infringement damages for 28 different Samsung products, the method used by the nine-member panel may have been mistaken. She asked lawyers on both sides to address whether the award should stand.

“If there is enough evidence in the record to justify that damage award then that verdict should be upheld,” said Harold McElhinny, a lawyer for Apple.

Kathleen Sullivan, a lawyer for Samsung, argued that the damages should be reduced by as much as US$600 million. Sullivan agreed the jury was precise, though she said it was hampered by a verdict form that, against Samsung’s wishes, wasn’t “particularized” enough to permit jurors to properly arrive at damages on a product-by-product basis.