Judge Slashes Jury Award in Apple-Samsung Case

A federal judge weakened the blow from Apple’s legal victory in a patent case against Samsung, lopping more than 40 percent off the damages a jury awarded last year. It was a mostly symbolic setback for Apple, one that did not shift the case — one of the most closely watched in the technology industry — in Samsung’s favor.

While Apple has lost other skirmishes against Samsung in courts around the world, the jury award in the United States case has been the biggest victory for either side so far. Even at a reduced level, it would be among the highest damage awards in a patent dispute. The judge ordered a new trial to recalculate a portion of those damages, leaving open the possibility that some of them could be restored. She also indicated that Apple is entitled to additional damages for sales of Samsung products that have occurred since the jury’s decision last summer, which could further swell the amount Apple is owed by Samsung. In her review of the jury’s decisions, which originally awarded Apple more than $1 billion for patent violations by Samsung in its mobile products, Judge Lucy Koh of the United States District Court in San Jose, Calif., knocked those damages down by $450 million, to $599 million. The new trial will determine how much of the $450 million, if any, should be restored.