Apple asks California judge for new trial

Apple asked to proceed with a new trial on 14 Samsung Electronics products for which a U.S. judge overturned a jury patent-infringement award rather than letting Samsung appeal her decision upholding damages for 14 other products covered by the jury’s verdict.

Apple, in a reply yesterday to Samsung’s request to seek an appeal and put the case on hold, said the Korean company’s proposal would “likely lead to a remand without a substantive decision” from an appeals court in Washington.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, on March 1 reduced the $1.05 billion in damages a jury awarded Apple in its patent fight with Samsung by $450.5 million. The judge ruled that the jury based its award for 14 Samsung products on an incorrect legal theory and suggested the companies consider appealing her ruling.

Apple said in a separate filing today that, if Koh intends to allow Samsung to proceed with an appeal before a new trial, it wants to ask the judge to reconsider her post-trial ruling and seek reinstatement of the $85.3 million the jury awarded for Samsung’s Galaxy S II AT&T and Infuse 4G.

Samsung and Apple, the world’s two biggest smartphone makers, have each scored victories in patent disputes fought over four continents since the iPhone maker accused Samsung of “slavishly copying” its devices.

Bloomberg