Samsung didn't willfully infringe Apple patents, but it still needs to pay

Samsung didn't willfully infringe Apple patents, but it still needs to pay

The Apple vs Samsung trial took another interesting turn on Wednesday, when U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh decided to overturn some of the jury's findings.

Back in August, the verdict was handed down that Samsung willfully infringed on five of seven different Apple patents, resulting in $ 1.049 billion (UK£661 million, AU$ 1.002 billion) in damages to be paid to Apple.

However, Samsung challenged the jury's decision that it will fully used the patents without consent, claiming it had reason to believe Apple's patents were invalid.

After further inspection, Koh agreed and claimed Apple had failed to prove the "objectively high likelihood that [Samsung's] actions constituted infringement of a valid patent."

Sammy's still gotta pay

Of course, just because Samsung wasn't found to be willfully infringing on Apple's patents doesn't meant the company won't have to pay the handsome $ 1.049 billion fee.

Judge Koh's determination only saves Samsung the further trouble (and expenses) that would have been incurred had she agreed with the jury's original decision.

Several other rulings were handed down by Koh, though for the most part, she followed suit with the rest of the jury's findings, including denying Apple the additional $ 3 billion (UK£1.9 , AUD$ 2.88) in damages it requested.

"Given that Apple has not clearly shown how it has in fact been undercompensated for the losses it has suffered due to Samsung's dilution of its trade dress, this Court, in its discretion, does not find a damages enhancement to be appropriate," Koh explained.

There's still a chance Koh could reduce Samsung's payout, but she has not given any indication such a ruling could come down as of yet.