Nine jurors in the Federal Court of the Northern District of California, handed Apple a big victory against Samsung, awarding Apple $1.05 billion in damages, finding all seven of Apple’s patents valid, finding Samsung infringed six of Apple’s patents, and finding Apple not to have infringed any of Samsung’s five patents.
The previous biggest intellectual property award of the year was handed down on August 1, 2012 in favor of Monsanto (MON) for $1 billion against DuPont (DD), but the history of big patent awards surviving appeals does not bode well for Apple.
There have been bigger awards, but they did not survive the appellate process. The biggest verdict in the history of the United States was for $1.67 billion against Abbott (ABT) in favor of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) related to an arthritis drug, but the verdict was thrown out on appeal.
The second biggest verdict in the history of the United States was $1.52 billion against Microsoft (MSFT) related to digital music. This verdict was also thrown out. The only other big verdict over $1 billion was over gyroscopes between Honeywell (HON) and Litton. Ultimately this case was settled for $400 million.
The largest patent award upheld on appeal in the United States was for $200 million. This was against Microsoft over a feature on Word.
Considering the home court advantage that Apple had, brashness of the jurors in interviews after the trial, complexity of the subject matter, and the large number of complex instructions to the jury, there are fertile grounds for Apple’s $1.05 billion verdict to be overturned or reduced….Read more at Forbes