Episode IV of Smartphone Wars: A New Hope

These are not the Apple damages that you are looking for. On December 6, 2016, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court reversed a Federal Circuit ruling that Samsung had to pay Apple $399 million for infringing on Apple’s smartphone design patent for its interface. The judgment was calculated using Samsung’s profit on its entire phone and not just the profit related to the interface. At issue was how to interpret 120 year old design patent case. In the older case, the court held that a design patent infringer who applies any “article of manufacture” would be liable to the owner for its total profit. SCOTUS clarified this holding. In the case of a multicomponent product, the relevant “article of manufacture” for arriving at damages award, could be the end product. It could also be only a component of that product. SCOTUS refused to articulate a bright light test for determining whether the entire product or just the interface should be the basis for damages. The case has been remanded to determine the damages issue.

WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS. Samsung has had a dismal year considering that its fire hazard Galaxy 7 had to be taken off the market. This decision is a win for Samsung but with a lot of loose ends. Samsung will have to convince the trial court that the damages should be calculated by the component and not the whole product. Then Samsung will have to find valuation experts who can accurately trace the profits to just the interface. Certainly, Apple will find its own valuation experts to do the same analysis. Then it will come down to a battle of the experts. For any business facing an infringement suit, whether as plaintiff or defendant, the issue of damages can make or break the case. A party has to be clear about what is being valued. Then the party has to find a valuation expert who can give an opinion as to the object being valued.