Jury rules that Samsung infringed on some but not all Apple patents in iPhone trial

A federal jury has returned a mixed ruling in Apple’s patent suit against Samsung. Samsung was found to be infringing several of Apple’s patents and cleared of infringing others, according to multiple sources.

The jury ruled that Samsung should pay Apple $119.6 million in damages, far less than the amount Apple sought.

The verdict came after three full days of deliberations.

The jury found that Samsung was infringing the so-called ‘647 patent, which covers “data tapping” or “quick links,” for the presentation of information on the phone’s screen, such as phone numbers or calendar events.

But the jury found Samsung did not infringe Apple’s ‘959 patent, which relates to information retrieval via Siri, or its ‘414 patent, relating to background data syncing.

On the ‘721 patent, which covers the “slide to unlock” gesture, the jury found that some Samsung devices, such as the Galaxy Nexus, infringed Apple’s patent, while others did not.

There’s a lot at stake in the trial, as Apple gets two-thirds of its sales from the iPhone and the iPad, while Samsung has become the world’s largest maker of smartphones — making it Apple’s chief competitor.

Apple was seeking $2.2 billion in damages, so the verdict could be seen as a striking loss for Apple. However, from the point of view of corporate ego, Samsung lost part of the battle. Samsung argued that it only owed Apple about $38 million and that it had not infringed on patents related to the original iPhone.

The trial is the second one, after a lengthy appeals process. So far, including previous trials, Samsung has been ordered to pay $930 million in damages as a result of litigation.

An eight-member jury listened to 50 hours of testimony in the trial, not counting closing statements.

Meanwhile, the jury also found that Apple infringed Samsung’s ‘449 patent and awarded the Korean company $158,400. Samsung had asked for damages of about $6.2 million.

Via Re/Code, Cnet, and other sources.