Samsung’s last chance to overturn Apple’s patent case win comes on October 10

By Ed Oswald July 14, 2016

apple samsung supreme court shutterstock — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The time has finally come for the patent infringement battle between Apple and Samsung to be decided. The U.S. Supreme Court scheduled oral arguments for the case on October 10, according to a schedule released this week. It’s one of the first cases the Supreme Court will take during its next term, which starts on October 3.

The Court originally agreed to take on the case back in March 2016, but the case has been around since 2011 when Apple alleged that Samsung infringed on parts of the iPhone design. Samsung finally agreed to pay Apple $548 million in December of last year, after losing both the original case and a subsequent appeal. However, the company still grumbled publicly about what it saw as an excessive judgement.

Samsung maintains that it should be refunded if developments work in its favor. Apple disputes Samsung’s right to a refund, and Samsung said within days of the settlement that it disagreed with how the jury was informed of how design patents should be adjudicated, in addition to how damages are calculated.

Taking the case to the Supreme Court may be one last-ditch effort by Samsung to build a case for not paying Apple the $548 million. What’s being argued is whether or not design patent damages should only be calculated by profits that are attributable to the infringing part in question or the entire device.

A Samsung win could put the settlement in question, since the amount is calculated based on whole-device profits. However, we won’t know how the case shakes out until the holidays, as the Court typically delivers opinions on October cases in either December or January of the following year.

In other words, this already five-year-old dispute is likely to go on quite a bit longer.

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