Apple Siri lawsuit against Samsung may be put on hold
Judge Lucy Koh, who is also presiding over last summer's landmark trial, suggests an appeals court decision on the first will cover the second as well.
A U.S. federal judge presiding over the landmark patent lawsuit between Apple and Samsung may postpone a second Apple patent suit against Samsung until an appeals court renders a decision on the first.
Apple won a $1.05 billion verdict against Samsung last year in a San Jose, Calif., trial, but U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh rejected the iPhone maker's request for a permanent injunction against sales of offending Samsung devices. A separate lawsuit filed by Apple accuses Samsung of violating a group of patents, including one related to Siri voice search technology.
That second case is scheduled to go to trial in March 2014, but during a hearing today in San Jose, Koh said a resolution of the first case would cover both lawsuits and wondered whether the case should be suspended until that decision.
"I just don't know if we really need two cases on this," Koh said, according to a Reuters account of the proceedings.
In response, Apple attorney William Lee argued that both cases should proceed as planned, noting that each lawsuit covers different patents. Samsung's Victoria Maroulis disagreed, saying that there's "overlap" between the two complaints.
Koh then asked whether any progress had been made toward a settlement, expressing doubt that there had been.
"The answer to the last question is, that's correct," Lee said.
The second lawsuit was filed by Apple in February 2012, charging that Samsung's Galaxy Nexus infringed on four Apple patents, including Siri unified search and data tapping. The lawsuit was later expanded to include Samsung's Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2, Rugby Pro, Galaxy Tab 8.9 with Wi-Fi, and Galaxy Tab 2 10. Samsung's counterclaim added the iPhone 5.