In spring of 2016, Apple and Samsung will again find themselves facing off in front of a jury in federal court, according to a scheduling order spotted by Ars Technica.
It’s the fourth time in as many years the two leading smartphone manufacturers will take to the stand. The focus of the case will be to calculate the damages Samsung will have to pay Apple for infringing on the iPhone maker’s patents.
Apple holds that Samsung devices include the Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S Showcase, Mesmerize, Fascinate, and Vibrant have all included features that utilize technology Apple holds the intellectual rights to. The patents in question are “bounce back,” “pinch to zoom,” and “tap to zoom.”
The case will again be presided over by US District Judge Lucy Koh, apparently to her displeasure. She has set strict limits for the companies this time around, including prohibiting new information like sales data from being entered without permission. The earlier trials have already amassed over 3,200 pages of documents.
The trial will also carry time restrictions; 45 minutes for opening statements, six hours per side for evidence, and one hour for closing statements. Koh wants the trial to occupy no longer than a week of the court’s time.
Trial number four is actually the second retrial focused solely on damages. Apple won its initial suit against Samsung in 2012 and was awarded $1.05 billion in damages, but that number has been slashed in retrial to $290 million.
The initial settlement for the current dispute took place in May 2014 and brought a payment of $120 million, less than 10 percent of what Apple had been requesting. Apple now calculates the damages to be $548 million.
H/T Ars Technica | Photo via K?rlis Dambr?ns/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
