Good news for lawyers: they get to feed on Apple and Samsung’s interminable patent dispute for a while longer. Apple last week asked a San Jose court for permission to begin a fourth trial in three years, and both sides filed a slew of paperwork asking for a recount of a recent jury verdict.
For anyone out there still keeping score, all this relates to an April trial over smartphone patents that concluded with an approximately $119 million award for Apple and a smaller award for Samsung.
As I argued at the time, the trial was a waste of time for all but fanboys and lawyers since the outcome will have little effect on the market share or bottom line of either company. Nevertheless, the old enemies appear eager for more legal jousting.
Apple’s filing (see below) shows it is seeking: a tripling of the the recent verdict; interest payments; a new trial on infringement and damages issues; an injunction that would bar Samsung from selling Galaxy, Admire and Stratosphere products.
Given the outcome of the previous trials, however, Apple has a chance to get more money but an injunction is a long-shot.
Samsung, meanwhile, appears to be seeking minor tweaks to how the jury calculated the damages (filings show an expert affidavit, but the main document is under seal).
All of this, needless to say, is unlikely to yield anything beyond more legal bills.
The latest legal outburst comes at a time of patent detente on other fronts. Earlier this month, for instance, Apple and Google agreed to put a stop to around 20 patent disputes around the world. In the case of Samsung, however, Apple does not appear interested in a similar peace.
Here’s one of Apple’s new filings:
Related research and analysis from Gigaom Research:
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