
Samsung filed a motion recently to stay the Apple vs. Samsung damages retrial on the grounds of a US Patent and Trademark Office action that found one of the patents-in-suit invalid. The emergency motion to halt the proceedings follows a USPTO advisory action also issued recently, in which the examiner of Apple’s U.S. Patent No. 7,844,915, or the '915 patent, found all claims of the property invalid. Samsung’s motion mentions the following:
This decision by the PTO jeopardizes the jury's findings in the damages trial and may render all of the post-trial proceedings a waste of time and resources.
For those of you who didn’t know, the ‘915 patent is a major part of the trial as it is the only patent Apple has in play for lost profits. The Cupertino California company complied with a pretrial order not to bring the other four properties up for lost profits arguments, which is pegged at $114 million. Judge Koh, who has already refused Samsung’s original motion to stay over this very patent, continues to stand firm saying she won’t rule on the motion today, and will instead focus on jury questions pertaining to its final decision.
The jury is in the middle of reviewing testimony from Apple expert witness Julie Davis, who calculated the $380 million damages figure. According to recent tweets from Julia Love of The Recorder, Apple has been given one day to respond to the motion to stay.
We’ll have to wait and see what comes of the whole ordeal.
Source: Scribd, The Recorder