Samsung rests case, wants $421M from Apple

iPhone 4S
The trial of the century is drawing to a close

The Apple vs. Samsung trial is drawing to a close, with both sides finished presenting their affirmative cases and closing arguments expected to begin Tuesday.

Housed in the San Jose, Calif. courthouse for three weeks but over a year old, the trial between the two technological behemoths has captivated those inside and outside the industry as much for its high-stakes drama as for what a decision either way will mean for intellectual property, customer loyalty and industry dominance.

While a verdict could take days to reach, both sides are leaving it all on the table, as evidenced by Thursday's pointed, rapid fire testimony.

Once the excitement of U.S. District judge Lucy Koh's inquiry into whether Apple's lawyers were on crack died down, Samsung settled in to prove it's the one owed damages with Apple beginning its arguments why that's just not the case.

Inflated estimations

Samsung, shockingly, thinks Apple's estimate of $2.5 billion to $2.75 billion (£1.59 billion to £1.75 billion) in damages owed is wrong.

Michael Wagner, a former partner at the PriceWaterhouse investing firm, testified Thursday that the figure - if Samsung did indeed infringe on iPhone and iPad patents - is closer to $518 million (£3.29 million).

Wagner said Apple's damages expert, Terry Musika, left out some important data in his billion dollar estimation, such as expenses for sales, marketing and research and development, data critical to coming up with an accurate estimation of what Samsung would actually owe.

"[Apple's] total calculation of total profits did not include the total cost to figure out the profits," he said.

Apple also miscalculated its lost profits, Wagner continued, bringing up a point made by witness heard earlier in the trial that Apple failed to account for its own lack of supply in meeting iPhone and iPad demand during the time it said Samsung was profiting from Apple's lost sales.

If Samsung did make money off infringed products, Wagner estimated it would be closer to the $518 million mark than Musika's mark of $2.24 billion (£1.42 billion).

Apple got Wagner to admit he had trouble obtaining complete financial data from Samsung, an issue that's also come up before due to the company's unique book keeping practices, but Wagner maintained all the information was there and accurate, not like Apple's estimations.

You owe me

Vincent O'Brien then led the charge in Samsung's case for its countersuit.

The damages expert told the court Apple has paid out over $1.4 billion (£8.9 million) to other companies for patent royalties yet has failed to pay Samsung $22.84 million (£14.5 million) for three patents discussed in court Tuesday.

Those patents cover email, photo browsing and music playback.

Because Samsung hasn't lost money due to patent infringements, its damages are calculated as royalties, a job that fell on David Teece to explain.

The University of California at Berkeley chair and economist stated Apple owes Samsung between $290 million (£184 million) and $399 million (£253 million) in lost patent royalty payments.

When the dust settled on the day's testimony, Samsung's lawyers made a play for $421.8 million (£268.1 million) in damages from Apple.

Back to Apple

With only a few hours of trial time left – and a judge unlikely to grant either side any more time – Apple went through a flurry of half a dozen witnesses to start their rebuke of Samsung's claims of infringement.

Apple hasn't infringed on any Samsung patents, each witness claimed, specifically the three mentioned in the trial Tuesday. From engineers to vice presidents, each was led one by one through the patents Samsung alleges Apple copied, arguing all the way the Cupertino company didn't copy any one, let alone Samsung.

Apple's rebuttal picks back up again Friday.

Via CNET and The Verge

Michelle Fitzsimmons

Michelle was previously a news editor at TechRadar, leading consumer tech news and reviews. Michelle is now a Content Strategist at Facebook.  A versatile, highly effective content writer and skilled editor with a keen eye for detail, Michelle is a collaborative problem solver and covered everything from smartwatches and microprocessors to VR and self-driving cars.