Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc. sparred in a key U.S. court hearing on Thursday in which Samsung sought to overturn a jury verdict while the iPhone maker ramped up calls for sales bans of several Samsung products.
Samsung suffered a crushing defeat in late August, when a U.S. jury ordered US$1.05 billion in damages after finding some Samsung smartphones and tablets infringed on Apple patents.
Earlier in the day, U.S. federal judge Lucy Koh resumed a court session between the world's two top smartphone makers and addressed various issues ranging from juror misconduct to a sales ban injunction.
Koh kicked off the afternoon hearing by explaining that it may take weeks or months for her to finalize decisions on the motions.
"I am planning to issue orders in installments, organized by subject matter," she was quoted saying in media reports.
Attorneys representing Apple and Samsung ramped up their rhetoric over the disputed issues.
Lawyers for Samsung said the damage award by the jury should be "reverse engineered" for miscalculation and requested a cut in the amount, while Apple defended the Aug. 24 decision.
The district judge could leave the damage amount unchanged, accept claims of the jury's wrong calculations and reduce it, or triple it, finding that Samsung's infringement was "willful."
Apple, meanwhile, asked for a sales ban of 26 Samsung products which the jury found infringed on key features of Apple products.
Also among the addressed issues was Samsung's request to overturn the jury verdict. The top smartphone maker had taken issues with jury foreman Velvin Hogan, citing his failure to mention a past lawsuit with his former employer and Samsung partner Seagate.
Samsung argued that the incident tainted Hogan's objectivity, while Apple refuted it was nonsensical to link an event from nearly 20 years ago.
Koh ended the heated session by suggesting the two companies reconcile for "global peace." While Samsung attorney Charles Verhoeven voiced the potential for negotiations, Apple attorney Harold McElhinny ruled out such possibility.
Previously, the heads of Samsung and Apple had voiced their firm will to settle the case in courtrooms rather than smoothing out the issue through business talks.
Following reports on Apple's patent negotiation with Taiwanese handset maker HTC, Samsung mobile chief Shin Jong-kyun told reporters that his company has no plan to follow suit.
Meanwhile, Apple CEO Tim Cook was quoted in a recent interview that the iPhone maker opted to go to the courts "after lots of trying" since it felt there was "no other choice."
Despite their business ties, Samsung and Apple have been embroiled in a bruising war over design and technology patents since April 2011 in an attempt to gain supremacy in the $219 billion global smartphone market.
Following the Aug. 24 verdict, the two have expanded the scope of the legal tussle by adding newer products, such as the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy Note 2.
The dogged fight between the two top players is also seen as a preview of a bigger face-off between Google Inc.'s Android and Apple iOS operating systems.
Android phones accounted for 75 percent of the global smartphone market in the third quarter, while iPhones chalked up a 14.9 percent stake, according to the data by International Data Corp. Samsung phones were the best-selling phones that run on the Google platform. (Yonhap News)
