Today a California Federal Circuit Court remanded the Apple v. Samsung patent design issue back down to district court.
Case Collard is a partner at the international law firm Dorsey & Whitney who focuses on intellectual property disputes and developing strategies for safeguarding intellectual property rights. He prosecutes and defends cases around the country. He’s been following this case closely.
“Another twist and turn in a long design patent saga now returns the Apple v. Samsung design patent dispute to where it began in the Northern District of California. The Federal Circuit (the appeals court that handles all patent cases) just issued another Apple v. Samsung design patent decision. This decision takes into account the Supreme Court’s new guidance about what may constitute an ‘article of manufacture’ for the purposes of calculating damages for design patent infringement,” Collard tells AppleWorld.Today.
Just like the Supreme Court, the Federal Circuit declined to instruct the trial court exactly how to determine what constitutes the appropriate ‘article of manufacture’ for any given case. That issue will now be remanded to the trial court for determination.
“Trial courts are well suited for this type of analysis, so it makes sense that the Federal Circuit—rather than create a procedure from whole-cloth—would like to see how the trial court approaches the problem,” Collard says. “Court watchers will now turn their attention to Judge Koh to see if she decides to hold a new trial on damages in light of these rulings.”
This is all part of the ongoing, global legal battle. Apple and Samsung have filed more than 30 lawsuits against each other across four continents. For example, Apple alleges that Samsung copied the slide-to-unlock technology of its iPhone and iPad devices.
