Apple and Samsung to renew patent battle in US court
San Francisco: Apple and Samsung will return to the federal court in the heart of Silicon Valley on Monday for a new round in their seemingly perpetual patent war. The case concerns the smartphone and tablet patents and is just the latest in a long-running feud between the two tech giants, who are battling for supremacy in a multi-billion-dollar market.
"The parties tried hard to accuse each other's latest and greatest products, but US patent litigation is slow, which is why this 2014 trial will be about 2012 and pre-2012 products," said Florian Mueller, Intellectual property analyst. The rivals will face off once again before District Court Judge Lucy Koh in the California city of San Jose.
Koh presided over a trial in 2013, which ended with a jury declaring Samsung owed Apple more that a billion dollars in damages for infringing patents with some older model Android-powered devices.The damages award was later trimmed to $929 million and is being appealed.
California-based Apple is taking aim at Samsung's flagship Galaxy line crafted to challenge the iPhone in the high-performance end of the market. If this new trial goes in Apple's favor, it could result in an even bigger award. It also involves better-selling Samsung devices, built with Google-backed Android software.
"Both in the United States and globally, Apple and Samsung have established themselves as fierce competitors in the smartphone market and fierce adversaries in the courtroom," concluded Koh.