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Samsung will ... sigh ... appeal $119m Apple patent verdict

Legal squabbling not over yet, despite pleas of world+dog

Thought the years-long court battle between Apple and Samsung had come to a close with last week's verdict, did you? Bad news, then; Samsung has announced that it will be appealing the $119m jury ruling.

The Korean electronics and washing-machine giant said that it would seek to overturn the patent infringement verdict handed down by jurors in a San José, California District Court. The appeal could mean that the already-exhausting and tedious bickering between the two firms will drag on for months, should an appeals court decide to hear the case.

According to a Bloomberg report, the firm will be challenging a verdict it sees as "unsupported by evidence" in favor of Apple.

The jury found Samsung in violation of one patent and partial violation on a second, while the firm was cleared of two other infringement charges. Of the $2.2bn Apple had originally sought, jurors awarded Cupertino just $119.6m in damages.

Additionally, the jury found that Apple had infringed on one Samsung patent and would need to pay Sammy $158,000 in damages.

"We agree with the jury's decision to reject Apple’s grossly exaggerated damages claim," Samsung said in a emailed statement to El Reg. "Although we are disappointed by the finding of infringement, we are vindicated that for the second time in the U.S., Apple has been found to infringe Samsung's patents.

"It is our long history of innovation and commitment to consumer choice that has driven us to become the leader in the mobile industry today."

Based on figures from Samsung's last quarterly report, the damages from the Apple verdict amount to around 37 hours worth of operating profit for the chaebol.

The company was hit with a larger penalty last year, when another set of Apple patent claims were upheld and Samsung was ordered to hand the Cupertino giant a $600m payout.

Our sympathies to US District Court judge Lucy Koh, who has had to preside over the constant bickering and numerous appeals from both sides in a legal battle which is now threatening to drag into its third year.

Meanwhile, Apple is still looking to extract a pound of flesh from Google after a US Circuit Court of Appeals reopened a legal battle between Apple and Motorola Mobility over allegations of patent infringement in mobile handset designs. A district court had previously binned the case in a ruling that was overturned last month. ®

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