Big news concerning the ongoing legal battle between Apple and Samsung this afternoon, as Judge Lucy Koh has reduced the amount of damages that will be awarded to Apple as part of the verdict handed down by a jury in August 2012. Apple was originally awarded $1.049 billion in damages, but The Wall Street Journal reports that Judge Koh today ordered that that amount be slashed to $598.9 million. As noted by FOSS Patents, that's a reduction of around $450.5 million that relates to 14 Samsung devices, including the Samsung Infuse 4G and Nexus S 4G.
In addition to vacating $450.5 million in damages, Judge Koh ruled that a second trial must be held regarding the 14 Samsung products that were related to the reduction. The judge explained that the jury in last year's trial made an error related to the amount of damages figure it set for each product, and while the mistake was identified, the court was not able to determine the proper damage figures on its own. Now another trial must take place to figure out the proper damages amounts for those 14 products. It's not yet known when the trial will take place, but a new jury will be selected for it.
It's been a while since there has been any major developments in the legal war between Apple and Samsung, but today's reduction in damages awarded to Apple broke that quiet streak. The cut in damages also means that the two companies will meet again for another trial at some point in the future, and it'll be interesting to see how much higher or lower the damages figure awarded to Apple by the new jury will be compared to the one from the old jury. Now we wait for that new trial to be scheduled.
