Two years after the first Apple-Samsung patent trial, the
big winner in that case -- Apple -- has
dropped a motion to cross-appeal a portion of Judge Lucy Koh's final verdict. The action means that the company has
officially given up hope of seeing any product bans on the 23 Samsung products found guilty of copying Apple technology, though the matter is largely moot as none of the products are still offered for sale anyway. Despite the clear victory in the jury trial, Judge Koh twice refused to issue sales injunctions on the infringing Samsung products.
The filing, according to patent case analyst
Florian Mueller, demonstrates that the dispute between the two companies "continues to lose steam" with "the parties' litigation fatigue [becoming] increasingly visible at the appeals courts. Last month, [Apple and Samsung] agreed to drop each other's appeals of the final ITC ruling on Apple's complaint." Apple's cross-appeal was intended only to dispute Judge Koh's denial of product bans; in all other regards, Apple was awarded a clean victory by the jury both in the original trial and in the retrial.
Originally, Samsung was found guilty on all charges brought by Apple, while Apple was cleared of all charges brought by Samsung. Further, the first jury awarded Apple just over $1 billion in damages. Due to juror error in calculating that award, a second trial was called to reassess about 40 percent of the original damages. Apple
won the second trial as well, with the jury again siding with the iPhone maker but reducing the full award down to $929 million.
Samsung is continuing with its appeal of the first trial, but is looking for a wholesale reversal of the jury's verdicts rather than a fine-tuning on a particular point as Apple had sought. As Mueller notes, Apple may try to focus its efforts on getting a sales ban on the products named in the second Apple-Samsung trial, which Apple
again won back in May, but which covers more recent products. A ruling on that request is expected in the near future.
Apple's motion reads as follows: "Pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 42(b), Plaintiff-Cross Appellant Apple Inc. ("Apple") moves to voluntarily dismiss its cross-appeal, No. 2014-1368. Apple further moves to reform the official caption of the remaining appeal (No. 2014-1335) to reflect the dismissal of Apple's cross-appeal. Counsel for Apple has conferred with counsel for Samsung Electronics Corporation, Ltd., Samsung Electronics America, Inc., and Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC (collectively, "Samsung") regarding the substance of this motion. Samsung does not oppose the relief requested in this motion and will not file a response. Apple accordingly requests that the Court grant its motion and dismiss its cross-appeal and reform the official caption to reflect the dismissal. A proposed order is attached."
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