Apple Requests Sanctions Against Samsung Delivering Default Victory in Design Patent Case

The ongoing court case between Apple and Samsung over alleged patent and design infringement has continued to take strange and interesting turns, with Samsung having been chided earlier this week for publicly releasing evidence that it had already been barred from presenting in court. But in taking its case to the media, Samsung raised the ire of the judge overseeing the case and caused Apple to file a request for sanctions based on the claim that Samsung is trying to improperly influence the jury in the case.

The disputed evidence involves Sony-inspired iPhone prototypes as well as information on Samsung's F700 smartphone, which the company says carries a similar design to the iPhone but for which Samsung has internal documentation of the design dating back to mid-2006, before the iPhone's January 2007 unveiling.

apple samsung logos
AllThingsD reports that Apple has taken the rather bold position that sanctions against Samsung should result in a default ruling from the judge against Samsung.

Apple, in its motion for sanctions, argues that Samsung’s broadcast of excluded evidence is not only a clear attempt to prejudice the jury, but part of an emerging pattern of misconduct.

“Samsung already has been sanctioned four times in this case for discovery abuses. Most recently, Samsung was sanctioned for destroying evidence,” Apple’s legal team wrote. “Litigation misconduct is apparently a part of Samsung’s litigation strategy — and limited sanctions have not deterred Samsung from such misconduct. Now, with so much at stake, Samsung has taken the calculated risk that any sanctions arising from its attempt to influence the jury with its excluded arguments are a price it is willing to pay.”

Outlining its belief that Samsung's escalation of misconduct in the case can only be properly addressed by a judge-ordered decision against the company, Apple notes that "serious misconduct can only be cured through a serious sanction".

As highlighted by FOSS Patents, Apple's request for sanctions would cover only the four design infringement claims against Samsung, with the remaining software patent claims and trade dress issues still being subject to a decision by the jury.

In that case, Samsung would potentially face a billion-dollar damages bill, most of which would be a disgorgement of infringer's profits. The jury would still have to establish liability with respect to Apple's three software patents-in-suit and its two trade dresses, but liability with respect to the four design patents-in-suit would be determined by the court.

As an alternative to the proposed court-issued decision in Apple's favor, Apple proposes a somewhat lesser sanction that would see the jury informed of Samsung's misconduct and instructed that the court believes Samsung to have infringed Apple's designs, with Samsung also being barred from any further discussion of the disputed evidence.

Popular Stories

apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

iPhone Driver's Licenses: These 17 U.S. States Offer Them or Will Later

Thursday June 19, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states and Puerto...
iPhone 16 Battery Life Feature

iOS 26's New Battery Life Mode Available Only on These iPhone Models

Saturday June 21, 2025 9:02 am PDT by
Last week, we reported that iOS 26 introduces an opt-in Adaptive Power Mode on the iPhone, alongside the existing Low Power Mode. Apple says that Adaptive Power Mode can make "small performance adjustments" when necessary to extend an iPhone's battery life, including slightly lowering the display brightness or allowing some activities to "take a little longer." The full description of...
ios 26 call holding

iOS 26 Beta is Hiding a New Ringtone — Here's What It Sounds Like

Thursday June 19, 2025 7:25 pm PDT by
Apple is hiding a new ringtone within iOS 26. The new ringtone is an alternative version of the existing Reflection ringtone, which has been the default ringtone since the iPhone X was released in 2017. It was discovered within the code for the first developer beta of iOS 26, but it remains hidden, so you will not find it in the list of ringtones available in the Settings app for now. It...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Monday June 16, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Wednesday June 18, 2025 10:24 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a few days after Apple provided the betas to developers. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. When the...
General Spotify Feature

Spotify Preparing to Launch Long-Awaited Lossless Audio Tier on iPhone

Thursday June 19, 2025 1:46 pm PDT by
Spotify appears to be gearing up to launch its long-awaited lossless music tier. Chris Messina (via TechCrunch) and Spicetify (via The Verge) spotted new lossless references within the code for Spotify's desktop app and web player. With assistance from Aaron Perris, MacRumors has confirmed that the latest beta of the Spotify app for the iPhone also contains new lossless-related code....
airpods 4 blue

Apple Offering Free AirPods — Here's How to Get Them

Tuesday June 17, 2025 6:33 am PDT by
Apple is running a new promotion that offers free AirPods to qualifying customers. Now through September 30, college and university students in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Singapore can receive free AirPods 4 when they purchase an eligible new Mac or iPad from Apple. AirPods Pro 2 are also available at a discount. If you do not want AirPods, the promotion also offers various other...
Craig Federighi No

John Gruber Reacts to Apple Declining His Interview After His Criticism

Wednesday June 18, 2025 8:10 pm PDT by
Every year between 2015 and 2024, at least one Apple executive agreed to be interviewed by Daring Fireball's John Gruber for a special WWDC episode of his podcast, The Talk Show. Last year, for example, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi, marketing chief Greg Joswiak, and top AI researcher John Giannandrea joined Gruber on stage at the California Theatre in San Jose to discuss...

Top Rated Comments

Compile 'em all Avatar
168 months ago
Samsung is really pathetic.
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Santabean2000 Avatar
168 months ago
Does look like Samsung is resorting to pulling hair and kicking at the nuts in an attempt to get out of this one.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BornAgainMac Avatar
168 months ago
Even if Apple loses I will always think of Samsung as a parts manufacture that copied Apple's products, marketing, and packaging to be more like Apple.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KnightWRX Avatar
168 months ago
There's a reason the judge left out samsungs "evidence".

Yes, Samsung was late in filing it.

I don't think Apple should "win by default" because of this though. Win on the merit of your case and IP. It's not as if Apple itself didn't submit shoddy evidence (the photoshopping of Samsung devices to make them seem more like iPads/iPhones comes to mind).
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
miles01110 Avatar
168 months ago
Another patent battle...:apple:

Actually, this is pretty much the patent battle.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
samcraig Avatar
168 months ago
1. Personally I think this makes Apple look desperate. As if they don't believe they can win the case.

2. As far as I can tell (and I could be wrong) nothing that was actually released wasn't already in the public domain anyway.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)