Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) alleged in a court filing that Samsung Electronics' purported patent infringement means Apple is entitled to $2.52 billion in damages, a claim Samsung quickly sought to knock down in its own filing. The dueling filings come as the smartphone titans finally head to a long awaited trial over their patent disputes. The trial begins in federal court July 30.
According to a partially redacted filing on Tuesday with a federal court in San Jose, Calif., and seen by Reuters, Apple said Samsung owes it "substantial monetary damages" because it illegally "chose to compete by copying Apple." Apple said Samsung's copying of its iPhone and iPad has led to billions of dollars in profit and a loss of $500 million in profit for Apple.
Samsung countered and said that Apple is trying "to stifle legitimate competition and limit consumer choice to maintain its historically exorbitant profits." Indeed, Samsung claimed Apple should pay to use Samsung's patented technology, "without which Apple could not have become a successful participant in the mobile telecommunications industry."
Meanwhile, according to a separate Reuters report, which cited unnamed sources, Apple CEO Tim Cook and senior Samsung executives were unable to agree on the value of each side's patents last week at a settlement conference. The two sides appear to be deadlocked over how to value standards-essential patents. Apple thinks that because such patents are supposed to be licensed at fair and reasonable terms, they have a lower value, while Samsung contends it has a stronger portfolio of such patents than Apple does.
Apple and Samsung declined to comment on the matter, according to Reuters.
Apple and Samsung, which are the top smartphone vendors in the world, have been locked in a worldwide patent battle since last year. Apple first sued Samsung in April 2011, claiming that Samsung "slavishly" copied its iPhone design. Samsung countersued and since then the patent battle between the companies has spread to multiple continents, generating dozens of cases in 10 countries.
For more:
- see this Reuters article
- see this separate Reuters article
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)
- see this separate WSJ article (sub. req.)
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Correction, July 24, 2012: This article originally incorrectly stated the amount of damages Apple is seeking from Samsung. It is $2.52 billion, not $2.25 billion.