Apple’s bid to recover $16m in legal fees from Samsung falls flat

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Apple’s bid to recover $16 million in attorney fees from Samsung following the massive patent dispute between the two companies has been blocked by the U.S. District Court. Judge Lucy Koh has also returned a $2.6 million bond posted by Apple to block sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Apple succeeded in recovering damages from Samsung after a jury decided that the South Korean company had copied the trademarked designs of the iPhone and iPad. Apple was initially awarded almost $1.05 billion, but that figure was later reevaluated and then reduced to just $290 million.

With the trial now over, Apple moved to recover attorney fees totaling $16 million from Samsung due to the time it took for the case to be resolved, but Judge Koh this week denied the motion. “Samsung raised several reasonable defenses to Apple’s trade dress dilution claims,” the ruling read.

In addition, Judge Koh released a $2.6 million bond posted in 2012 after both Apple and Samsung withdrew motions to enforce an injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

It seems the end of this particular battle between these two technology giants is finally in sight. The latest ruling comes just weeks after Apple and Samsung agreed to drop all ongoing patent litigation outside of the U.S., a move which will save both parties yet more millions in legal fees.