A US federal judge slashed nearly half of the US$1 billion (HK$ 7.75 billion ) damage award a jury ordered Samsung Electronics to pay Apple Inc. after a high-profile trial over the rights to the design and technology running some of the world’s most popular smartphones and tablet computers.
US District Court Judge Lucy Koh on Friday lowered the damages awarded to Apple Inc. by US$450.5 million for 14 Samsung products including some products in its hot-selling Galaxy lineup, saying jurors had not properly followed her instruction in calculating some of the damages.
She also concluded that mistakes had been made in determining when Apple had first notified Samsung about the alleged violations of patents for its trend-setting iPhone and IPad.
Koh ordered a new trial to recalculate damages for those products.
“We are pleased that the court decided to strike US$450,514,650 from the jury’s award,” Samsung spokeswoman Lauren Restuccia said. “Samsung intends to seek further review as to the remaining award.”
Apple declined to comment on the Koh’s ruling.
The ruling reduced Samsung Electronics’ bill to just under US$599 million. The judge said the tab will probably increase after the appeals of both companies are resolved.
