A jury in California will begin deliberating Tuesday over how much
money Samsung should pay to Apple for the infringement of several
patents in multiple models of Samsung smartphones. Apple wants just
under $380 million, but Samsung is arguing it shouldn't pay more than
$52 million.The eight-person jury made up of six women and two men heard
closing arguments from lawyers on Tuesday morning after four days of
testimony that focused on the iPhone's influence and explored what drove
consumers to buy the phones they did.A lawyer for Apple, Bill Lee,
asked jurors to put themselves in the shoes of Steve Jobs and other
Apple employees who "went to work before the sun came up and went home
after it set" when working on the iPhone. He told them how Jobs took a
risk and "bet the company" on the iPhone.thermos bottle
Lee
also reminded the jury of several key Apple exhibits: internal Samsung
documents including one from Samsung mobile chief JK Shin that asked
engineers to "make something like the iPhone.carbon fabric
"Samsung
argued the patents in question cover just a few areas of design and do
nothing on their own to influence the buying decisions of consumers, so
the money it pays should be much lower."These patents are very narrow,"
said Samsung attorney Bill Price. "Apple doesn't own beautiful and
sexy."
The question in front of the jury is relatively simple,
but the math could be complicated.That Samsung infringed on Apple
patents isn't disputed. A jury in the same San Jose courtroom ruled on
that last year and awarded Apple just over $1 billion in damages, but
shortly after, Judge Lucy Koh cut about $450 million from the award
citing incorrect calculations. This second trial seeks to recalculate
those damages.On Monday, Koh explained to the jurors how they need to go
about figuring that out."A damages award should put Apple in
approximately the financial position it would have been in had the
infringement not occurred," she told the jury. "You should keep in mind
that the damages you award are meant to compensate Apple and not to
punish Samsung."Apple's math combines three figures to come up with $380
million.prepreg
The
first is $114 million in compensation for lost profit. The company is
asserting that it would have sold 360,000 additional iPhones had the
infringing Samsung products not been on the market.Samsung says large
screens, longer battery life and the Android operating system were among
the reasons customers chose its phones. Those people wouldn't have
bought Apple products had the infringing products not been on the market
and thus it owes nothing on this issue.