Lawyers for Samsung appeared before a U.S. Appeals Court on Thursday to argue for a reversal of the “absurd” $930 million patent infringement judgement awarded to Apple earlier this year.
Samsung attorney Kathleen Sullivan argued that the South Korean company’s handsets could not have infringed Apple’s design or trade dress patents because they did not feature, among other things, an Apple logo or an iPhone-like home button, according to Reuters.
Sullivan then went on to compare the basis of the award – which amounted to all of Samsung’s profits from the infringing devices – to “awarding entire profits on a car because of an infringing cup holder.”
Apple attorney William Lee fired back, saying the iPhone “is not the cup holder.” Going on to say, “What Samsung is actually asking you to do … is to substitute yourself for Judge Koh and the jury,” Lee added.
Samsung was found guilty of patent infringement back in August of 2012, with the jury awarding damages of $1.05 billion to Apple. Presiding Judge Lucy Koh struck $450 million from the award, then set a retrial to reassess those damages, a jury then set the damages at $290 million for the 930 million total damages.
