The long-running patent war between Samsung and Applem should finally end in mid-May. The District Court of North Carolina will issue a final verdict on Monday, May 14. The lawsuit started seven years ago, when Apple sued Samsung for infringing a patent related to the design of the iPhone. However, the South Korean giant believes that general patents are meaningless, so it does not think that it should pay a fine of several million.
In 2012, a court ordered Samsung to pay Apple $1 billion in damages, but Samsung appealed several times over the years, eventually reducing the amount to $548 million.
However, Samsung did not give up and took the whole case all the way to the Supreme Court in 2015. The South Korean company argued that damages for patent infringement should not be calculated on the total sales of the device, but on the basis of individual components such as the front cover and display. The Supreme Court agreed with Samsung and sent the case back to the district court.
Judge Lucy Koh said another trial must be held in the patent war to determine the amount of damages Samsung must pay Apple.
The report, which first appeared on CNET, suggests that senior executives from both companies will not testify in person during the trial, but instead will give written statements.
