The U.S. Supreme Court has announced it will hear Samsung’s appeal of a patent lawsuit involving Apple on October 11. The court had agreed to hear the appeal in March, but hadn’t announced a specific hearing date until now.
The Supreme Court will discuss whether penalties assessed in a California federal court case over infringement of iPhone design patents, for which Samsung paid out $548 million in December, were excessive. In its petition to the court last year, Samsung asserted damages in patent cases pertaining to complex devices like smartphones should be based on patented components, not total profits from device sales.
Apple has opposed a Supreme Court review of the case, saying its case against Samsung is “legally unexceptional,” and isn’t deserving of a SCOTUS review.
The court has been petitioned to hear two questions. The first is related to design patent scope, while the second asks the court to decide if patent trial damages should be based on profits attributable to an infringing component or as a measure of total profits.
Samsung has already paid $548 million to Apple to settle the patent lawsuit, but can expect to be reimbursed by Apple if the Supremes rule in the Korean company’s favor.
