Source: https://www.mintz.com/insights-center/viewpoints/2231/2016-03-supreme-court-decides-hear-samsung-v-apple-appears-ready
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 00:01:48+00:00

Document:
On the damages question, the Federal Circuit previously held in Apple Inc. v. Samsung Elecs. Co. that the statutory language of 35 U.S.C. § 289 “explicitly authorizes the award of total profit from the article of manufacture bearing the patented design.” (Emphases added). The Federal Circuit stated that while “Samsung argues for limiting the profits awarded to ‘the portion of the product as sold that incorporates or embodies the subject matter of the patent[,]’…[t]he innards of Samsung’s smartphones were not sold separately from their shells as distinct articles of manufacture to ordinary purchasers.” In its petition, Samsung disagreed with the lower court’s ruling, arguing that “the Federal Circuit allowed the jury to award Samsung’s entire profits [to Apple] from the sale of smartphones found to contain the patented designs—here totaling $399 million...no matter how little the patented design features contributed to the value of Samsung’s phones.” (Emphasis added).
The potential implications of the Supreme Court’s decision on this issue—the first Supreme Court decision on design patents in more than 120 years—will be important to follow. Not only are there design patents on numerous other features of today’s smartphones, but also, a decision in favor of Samsung could add momentum to a similar wave in the law curtailing damages to utility patent owners, based on 35 U.S.C. § 284, for example in Commonwealth Sci. & Indus. Research Organisation v. Cisco Sys. (“Under § 284, damages awarded for [utility] patent infringement ‘must reflect the value attributable to the infringing features of the product, and no more.’” (citing Ericsson, Inc. v. D-Link Sys., Inc.)). Stay tuned to the blog since we will be following this case as it travels through the Supreme Court docket and will be paying close attention to the oral argument and written decision.

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