The Supreme Court has vacated Apple’s $399 million patent infringement damage award against Samsung.  This substantial award was based on three Apple “Design Patents” which cover only “non-functional” aspects of the “design” or appearance of the IPhone such as the shape of the front and back of the phone.  These design patents have nothing to do with the functionality of the phone.  Still, Apple was able to convince the trial court that it should receive 100% of its claimed profits of its IPhone, not only those profits lost as result of Samsung’s infringement of the design.  In fact, the district court refused to even allow Samsung to make the argument Apple’s profit on the design was far less than the profit on the entire IPhone. 

The Supreme Court disagreed.  Writing for a unanimous court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor ruled that should not have been prohibited from making the argument that Apple should have been limited to its profits on the design alone.  See Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. v. Apple, Inc. Case No. 15-777 (December 6, 2016).