Samsung's Infringement of Apple's Patents Ruled Not Willful

Judge Lucy Koh has ruled that Samsung did not willfully infringe on Apple's patents; however, the company will not be granted a new trial, reports The Verge. If Samsung's infringement had been willful it could have led to even larger damages than the $1.049 billion decision awarded to Apple.

Samsung had argued that it had reason to believe Apple's patents were invalid — so that even if Samsung had infringed, it couldn't be found to have done so willfully. Koh found Samsung's arguments reasonable enough to rule out an overall finding of willful infringement. In other words, she believed Samsung went into the whole situation with a reasonable belief that it wasn't in the wrong.

Koh could potentially reduce the damages owed Apple; however, she has not made any rulings to that effect at this time. She did decline some of Apple's requests to increase damages and ruled that claims 10 and 15 of Samsung's '941 patent were invalid.


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