Ruling: Samsung Didn't Willfully Infringe On Apple's Patents

The Apple – Samsung patent legal case has been a long one, and its far from over. Today, however, marked a rather significant moment, with Judge Lucy Koh ruling that Samsung did not willfully infringe on Apple's patents. This is in regards to the patents for which the Korean company was slapped with an over $1 billion fine. At the heart of the ruling is an argument on Samsung's part that it had believed Apple's patents to be invalid.

This ruling means Samsung won't be hit with additional damages that would result from willful infringement. It's a blow to Apple, which had to prove that Samsung's actions constituted infringement of valid patents. At the end of the day, Judge Koh sided with Samsung in its assertion that it did not willfully infringe.

Judge Koh made multiple other rulings as well, all of a less significant nature and mostly in line with that of the jury. One such ruling was that Apple will not receive the increased damages from Samsung that it was seeking. Another was the invalidation of two claims for a wireless patent, as well as nixing Samsung's new trial request.

Back in late August 2012, a jury had ruled in a lawsuit initiated by Apple that Samsung had willfully infringed on five of the seven patents in question. As a result of the ruling, Samsung was hit with a huge $1,049,343,540 in damages. In the same ruling, the jury stated that Apple didn't infringe on Samsung's patents with the iPhone, resulting in no damages awarded.

[via The Verge]