Apple Loses Appeal

The $1.05 billion jury verdict against Samsung (SSNLF.PK) in its famous California patent lawsuit against Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been upheld, with the ruling judge denying both a request for retrial and the iPhone maker’s appeal for higher damages.

U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh ruled on Tuesday that the Korean company did not willfully infringe on Apple’s patents, thus denying the latter’s attempt to raise the damage amount decided upon last August by a federal jury. The jury’s verdict had established that Samsung acted willfully. An establishment of that fact would have raised the damages a massive three times. Koh did not set a final amount for damages.

The judge said the court could not enhance the damages “given that Apple has not clearly shown how it has in fact been undercompensated for the losses it has suffered due to Samsung’s dilution of its trade dress.”

Both Samsung and Apple had also asked for a fresh trial, with the former claiming jury misconduct and the latter claiming some of its allegations had been ignored. In December last year, Apple’s request for a permanent injunction against Samsung’s infringing devices had been denied. On Tuesday, the judge also denied Apple’s renewed patent-infringement allegation against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.