A federal judge in California has ruled that Samsung did not "willfully infringe" on Apple patents, in the latest turnaround in the contentious legal battle between the two tech giants.
"Samsung's infringement of Apple's design and utility patents was not 'willful,' a federal judge ruled Tuesday, rejecting Apple's bid for bonus damages in the Apple v. Samsung smartphone lawsuit," writes Wired.
"Judge Lucy Koh of the Northern District of California reasserted that Samsung did in fact violate Apple's intellectual property, though."
Koh's ruling runs counter to some of the jury findings in the trial.
"Koh wrote in her ruling that in order to find Samsung willfully infringed on the patents, Apple would have to prove 'by clear and convincing evidence that the infringer acted despite an objectively high likelihood that its actions constituted infringement of a valid patent,'" writes CNET.
"Samsung has argued that it didn't think Apple's patents were valid and therefore didn't believe it was infringing. Koh has accepted Samsung's argument for the 'willful' standard."
It's an extremely important point for both companies. In August, a jury awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages from Samsung. A "willful" infringement, like the original jury found, could have resulted in the damages being tripled after the trial.
"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," wrote Koh in her ruling.
Read Judge Koh's ruling in its entirety below.
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