US jury tells Samsung to pay Apple $US290m

A US jury has ordered Samsung to pay Apple $US290 million in their latest patent battle, but the South Korean company is expected to appeal the verdict.

A Samsung store

A US jury has ordered Samsung to pay Apple $311.74 million in their latest patent battle. (AAP)

A Silicon Valley jury has ordered Samsung Electronics to pay Apple $US290 million ($A311.74 million) for copying vital iPhone and iPad features.

The verdict delivered on Thursday covers 13 older Samsung devices that a previous jury found were among 26 Samsung products that infringed Apple patents.

The previous jury awarded Apple $US1.05 billion. But US District Judge Lucy Koh ordered the new trial and tossed out $US450 million of the damages after concluding the previous jury miscalculated the amount Samsung owed.

Samsung appealed that verdict and is expected to appeal the latest verdict.

A third trial is scheduled for March to consider Apple's claims that Samsung's newest devices on the market also copied Apple's technology.

Apple and Samsung are the world's two biggest smartphone makers. The bitter rivals have been waging a global battle for supremacy of the $US300 billion worldwide market.

Apple has argued in courts, government tribunals and regulatory agencies around the world that Samsung's Android-based phones copy vital iPhone features.

Samsung is fighting back with its own complaints that some key Apple patents are invalid and Apple has copied Samsung's technology.

Samsung lawyer William Price argued Apple is misconstruing the breadth of its patents to include such things as the basic rectangle shape of most smartphones today.

"Apple doesn't own beautiful and sexy," Price told the San Jose jury.

Apple lawyer William Lee told the jury that Samsung used Apple's technology to lift it from an also-ran in the smartphone market three years ago to the biggest seller of them in the world today.

"Apple can never get back to where it should have been in 2010," Lee told the jury on Tuesday at the conclusion of the week-long trial.

The fight in San Jose is particularly contentious. The courtroom is a 15-minute drive from Apple's Cupertino headquarters, and several prospective jurors were dismissed because of their ties to the company.

The South Korean-based Samsung has twice sought to stop the trial, accusing Apple on Tuesday of unfairly trying to inflame patriotic passions by urging jurors to help protect American companies from overseas competitors. The judge denied Samsung's request for a mistrial, but did agree to reread an instruction ordering them to put aside their dislikes and biases in deciding the case.

On Wednesday, Samsung again demanded a halt to the trial after the US Patent and Trademark Office told Apple it was planning to invalidate a patent protecting the "pinch-to-zoom" feature at issue in the jury's deliberation. The judge ordered more briefing while declining to stop the trial.


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Source: AAP


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