Samsung to (Finally) Fork Over Millions to Apple in Patent Battle

After years of patent litigation, Samsung has agreed to pay Apple $548 million in damages.

But it's not that easy, of course. A recent court filing, first spotted by patent analyst Florian Mueller, reveals that Samsung reserves the right to recover some of that money if it prevails on appeal or before the USPTO. Not surprisingly, "Apple disputes Samsung's asserted rights to reimbursement," the filing notes.

For now, Samsung will send $548,176,477 to Apple by Dec. 14, according to that filing, which was submitted to the Northern California district court.

The feud dates back 2011, when Apple accused its biggest competitor of copying the design of its iPhone and iPad devices. The case later expanded to dozens of courts around the globe, until Apple and Samsung last year agreed to drop all patent litigation outside of the States, leaving only U.S. cases to be fought in court.

The companies have fought two separate cases in Northern California courts. The first one resulted in a judgment north of $1 billion for Apple, though those winnings have been reduced on appeal over the years to the $548 million in question.

Samsung, however, has vowed to take the case to the Supreme Court. If the court agrees to hear the case, a retrial is likely, according to Mueller.

In the second case, the jury awarded Apple $120 million in May 2014. After its victory, Apple requested that Samsung be banned from using the infringing technology in its devices, but the court rejected that request. In September 2015, though, a U.S. appeals court ruled that Apple should have been granted an injunction on patented technology that Samsung cribbed for its own phones: quick links, slide-to-unlock, and autocorrect.

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Apple declined to comment further, while Samsung did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment.

UPDATE: Samsung formally appealed on Dec. 14, asking the High Court to take up the case.