Samsung to Appeal Apple Patent Case to Supreme Court

Samsung really only has one option left in its major patent battle against Apple, and it's planning to exercise that option—setting up a fairly big battle of two tech heavyweights that will be heard at the U.S. Supreme Court itself, if it takes up the case.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, Samsung is planning to continue appealing a 2012 verdict in which it was found to have violated Apple's patents in 23 different Samsung products. The resulting damages topped $1 billion, though Samsung was able to successfully knock that down to a "mere" $548 million or so after a retrial and appeal.

Samsung indicated it was planning to file a petition to the Supreme Court in a Wednesday court filing, which it submitted a week or so after Samsung's lawyers received notice that the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals was not going to grant the company an en banc review of a previous appeals court ruling against it. In other words, Samsung's primary appeal has already been denied twice at the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals—for all intents—and the company is down to its very last option.

"First, the petition will present the question whether a district court must ensure, through proper claim construction and jury instructions, that a finding of design-patent infringement does not rest on unprotected functional elements of the design. Second, the petition will present the question whether an award of an infringer's entire profits exceeds the scope of Section 289 where a patented design is only a minor feature of an infringing product," reads Samsung's filing, indicating the general gist of what the company would like to argue before the Supreme Court.

Once Samsung officially makes its petition to the Supreme Court—which in no way guarantees the company a date before the justices, no matter how big the stakes might be to Samsung—expect to see a number of other big names joining on board with briefs of support. Hewlett-Packard, Google, and Facebook (to name a few) all supported Samsung's latest petition for a rehearing of its appeal, and it stands to reason that they would continue to back the company at the highest court.

Recommended by Our Editors

Portion of Apple-Samsung Patent Award Reversed

"Amici urge rehearing en banc of the panel's decision. If allowed to stand, that decision will lead to absurd results and have a devastating impact on companies, including amici, who spend billions of dollars annually on research and development for complex technologies and their components," read a "friend of the court" brief filed by Dell, eBay, Facebook, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Limelight Networks, Newegg, and the SAS Institute last November.