Apple Asking for $16M in Legal Fees After Samsung Patent Victory, Has Paid Lawyers More Than $60M

Following the second victory in its long-running patent lawsuit with Samsung, Apple has filed a motion asking the judge to order Samsung to pay nearly $16 million in legal fees (via Dan Levine).

Apple says that its lawsuit with Samsung is "an exceptional case" and that there was overwhelming evidence that "Samsung deliberately copied every aspect of Apple's revolutionary iPhone product". After juries awarded Apple $930 million in damages, the company argues that it "should not be forced to bear the full expense of prosecuting its claims".

In its filing, Apple says it expects to pay more than $60 million to Morrison & Foerster, its outside counsel, over the course of the case through the end of the retrial. However, that $60 million calculation, and Apple's motion request, are calculated only for "timekeepers who billed more than $100,000 for work on Apple's claims against Samsung". Further, Apple is only requesting reimbursement for one-third of its calculated billings, or $16 million.

apple_samsung_logos

By seeking only one-third of its fees from timekeepers who billed more than $100,000, Apple ensures that it is not recovering fees for its unsuccessful claims concerning the unregistered combination iPhone trade dress or for tablet design. First, the only differences between the unregistered iPhone 3G trade dress on which Apple did prevail and the combination iPhone trade dress is that the latter lacks two of the iPhone 3G trade dress elements (a metallic bezel around the flat clear surface and a row of small dots on the display screen) and also covers “neutral (black or white) borders” rather than the black borders covered by the 3G trade dress. Thus, the same work would have been required to address the iPhone 3G trade dress even if the combination trade dress had not been at issue. The only possible additional work required by having the combination trade dress in the case was whatever might have been required to address "neutral (black or white) borders" in addition to "black borders." Apple’s request for only one-third of fees from timekeepers who billed more than $100,000 ensures that any such minimal fees are not included in its request.

A rumor from the beginning of 2012 suggested that Apple had spent in excess of $100 million in legal fees in its first set of claims against HTC. With Apple holding nearly $150 billion in cash, and with so much at stake, even these incredibly large billings are unlikely to slow the flurry of international patent lawsuits.

Separately, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of a lawsuit to determine what kinds of software are eligible for patent protection. Oral arguments in the case, Alice Corporation v. CLS Bank should be heard in March with a ruling expected by the end of June.

Popular Stories

iOS 19 Mock WWDC25 Feature

iOS 19 Expected to Run on These iPhones

Monday March 31, 2025 5:28 pm PDT by
iOS 19 will not be available on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or the iPhone XS Max, according a private account on social media site X that has accurately provided information on device compatibility in the past. The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max all have an A12 Bionic chip, so it looks like iOS 19 will discontinue support for that chip. All other iPhones that run iOS 18 are expected...
watchOS 11 Thumb 2 1

Apple Releases watchOS 11.4 With Sleep Alarm Update

Tuesday April 1, 2025 10:34 am PDT by
Apple today released watchOS 11.4, the fourth major update to the operating system that runs on the Apple Watch. watchOS 11.4 is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 6 and later, all Apple Watch Ultra models, and the Apple Watch SE 2. watchOS 11.4 can be downloaded on a connected iPhone by opening up the Apple Watch app and going to General > Software Update. To install the new software,...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Monday March 31, 2025 11:27 am PDT by
Apple today released new firmware updates for all AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 models. The new firmware is version 7E93, up from the 7B21 firmware that was installed on the AirPods Pro 2 and the 7B20 firmware available on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC. It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in the new firmware, but we'll update this article should we find ...
maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 18.4 With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music, New Emoji and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
Apple Card iPhone 16 Pro Feature

Visa and American Express Vying to Win Apple Card Deal in 'Fierce' Fight

Tuesday April 1, 2025 1:50 pm PDT by
Visa wants to pay Apple approximately $100 million to be the new payment network for the Apple Card, reports The Wall Street Journal. As of right now, the Apple Card is on the Mastercard payment network, but that is set to change because Apple is ending its partnership with Goldman Sachs. Both American Express and Visa are vying to replace Mastercard as Apple's card services provider, while...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 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 ...
iOS 18

Apple Seeds First Beta of iOS 18.5 to Developers

Wednesday April 2, 2025 10:11 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming just two days after Apple released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4. iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. We don't yet know what Apple is introducing in the iOS 18.5...

Top Rated Comments

AppleDroid Avatar
148 months ago
There is no greater cause than paying exorbitant amounts of money to uphold our lord and savior: Capitalism.


Sad how much money is wasted in crap like this that could go to better causes. You would think people would get that.

*sigh*. :(
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AppleVsAndroid Avatar
148 months ago
I can see why lawyers are such rich bas***ds!
Losers have this exact mindset of being jealous on others success :p

No one is stopping you from being a rich bast... (I mean lawyer) :D
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DTphonehome Avatar
148 months ago
Samsung should have to pay the full amount!
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hansonjohn590 Avatar
148 months ago
Microsoft built the world's largest software company largely on the back of copying Apple. Of course they're not doing well now, but where would Apple have been now had that not occurred?

Which alternate reality are you speaking of and how do I get there?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hansonjohn590 Avatar
148 months ago
Seriously? You already won, no need to spit in their face.

They will probably spend more than 16 million in attorney fees just trying to get this money.

Show some class, Apple.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thekev Avatar
148 months ago
I can see why lawyers are such rich bas***ds!
It's probably more the partners in the contracted law firm than the individual lawyers, my point being that they're not all rich.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)