Samsung's Motion to Stay Damages in Apple Patent Retrial Denied

Last week, Samsung was ordered to pay Apple $290 million in damages after a jury ruled that the Korean company had copied key features and design elements from the iPhone last year. Shortly after the payment amount was decided last week, Samsung filed a motion to delay its payments to Apple, requesting a reevaluation of the validity of patent No. 7,844,915 covering Apple's “pinch-to-zoom“ gestures.

Now, FOSS Patents is reporting that Samsung's motion to stay its damages was denied last night by Judge Lucy Koh, basing her decision on three factors including the status of research, the impact of a stay on the trial and case as a whole, and whether granting a stay would unethically favor Apple.

While the retrial jury, which ultimately awarded Apple $290 million in damages replacing a $410 million of the original verdict (resulting now in total damages, subject to appeal, of $929 million), was deliberating, Samsung brought an emergency motion to stay the whole case pending reexamination of Apple's '915 pinch-to-zoom API patent. Its lawyers untruthfully said that Apple's only procedural option left (in order to salvage the patent) was a notice of appeal, but Apple pointed in its response to what the actual USPTO communication said, which was the opposite, and said Samsung's stalling strategy had "crossed the bounds of reason."

While Judge Koh ruled against Samsung's motion to stay its damages; a reevaluation of the pinch-to-zoom patent will still take place. The court also states that Apple has other options to influence the outcome of a reexamination, such as filing an appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board or the Federal Circuit.

Notably, Apple's claim of a pinch-to-zoom patent was denied last July by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which followed a preliminary rejection in December 2012.