Apple has put a price on Samsung’s patent infringement, according to court documents uncovered by FOSS Patents. Apple asked the court for $31.14 per device for various infringements (broken down below) for a total of $2.5 billion. This figure is a mix of asking for Samsung to disgorge profits from infringing devices as well as profits Apple claims it lost to Samsung.
“Samsung adopted as its number one goal to [redacted]’ in the smartphone and tablet markets, and it chose to compete by copying Apple,” Apple wrote in court documents. “Samsung’s infringing sales have enabled Samsung to overtake Apple as the largest manufacturer of smartphones in the world. Samsung has reaped billions of dollars in profits and caused Apple to lose hundreds of millions of dollars through its violation of Apple’s intellectual property.”
Apple said that Samsung had been unjustly enriched by $2 billion, while Apple itself lost $500 million in profits. Apple also asked for an additional $25 million for minor infringement by other Samsung products not covered in the above figures.
Apple also broke down how it came up with the figure, asking specific amounts for Samsung violation of specific patents. That includes:
- $2.02 for the “overscroll bounce” (or “rubber-banding”) ‘318 patent
- $3.10 for the “scrolling API” ‘915 patent
- $2.02 for the “tap to zoom and navigate” ‘163 patent
- $24 for use of any of Apple’s design patents or trade dress rights
Apple also argued that Samsung’s patent infringement claims against Apple come down to how much Samsung can properly ask for licensing patents covered by FRAND licensing agreements. Samsung has asked for 2.4% of Apple’s per-device sales, but Apple argued that the proper FRAND licensing rate would be $0.0049 per patent per device, a tiny fraction of Samsung’s actual demands.
The court documents also addressed the future, where Apple made the case that all it wants is for Samsung to stop copying Apple and invent its own stuff. Apple said that it’s not trying to keep Samsung out of the market, but is instead trying to protect its intellectual property by forcing Samsung to compete by innovating on its own rather than infringing on Apple’s patented inventions.
From the documents:
“In an interview a few weeks ago [the one at AllThingsD’s D10 conference], Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook explained the significance of this case for Apple. ‘[I]t is important for Apple not to be the developer for the world,’ Mr. Cook said. ‘We just want other people to invent their own stuff.’
Apple looks forward to a trial that will vindicate its intellectual property rights. Samsung must play by the rules. It must invent its own stuff. Its flagrant copying and massive infringement must stop.”
FOSS Patents has a lot more on the topic.