Apple vs. Samsung $400 million damages trial set for May 14, 2018

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh has delivered on promises to expedite a jury trial to determine damages for Apple in its $400 million smartphone patent war with Samsung, moving up the trial date by two weeks to May 14, 2018, and imposing limits on pretrial motions, reports Law360.

In January Samsung told the Federal Circuit that Apple was flat wrong in arguing that a recent U.S. Supreme Court finding on design patent awards didn’t disturb its claim on a $400 million award, saying it took “chutzpah” for the iPhone maker to try to stop Samsung’s new trial. In December 2016, the Supreme Court sided with Samsung, throwing out an appeals court ruling that said the South Korean company had to pay a $399 million penalty to its American rival for copying key iPhone designs.

The justices in their 8-0 ruling sent the case back to the lower court for further proceedings. The court held that a patent violator doesn’t always have to hand over its entire profits from the sales of products using stolen designs, if the designs covered only certain components and not the whole thing.

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.