Judge Lucy Koh, the federal judge presiding over two Apple v. Samsung lawsuits in the Northern District of California, has issued her first ruling on issues raised at the post-trial hearing last week, reports “FOSS Patents” (http://macte.ch/ARAUz).
“It isn’t even a ruling in a narrow sense: the order just explains that the court declines to adjudicate Apple’s non-jury FRAND defenses (under the doctrines of waiver, equitable estoppel, and unclean hands) and counterclaims even though it has jurisdiction over them,” writes Florian Mueller for “FOSS Patents.” “Apple wanted a decision, and it was hoping to render certain Samsung patents entirely unenforceable beyond this case. But Judge Koh didn’t want to rule on issues that are, for the time being, not outcome-determinative because the jury didn’t find Apple to infringe any of Samsung’s asserted standard-essential patents.”
This is all part of the ongoing, global legal battle. Apple and Samsung have filed more than 30 lawsuits against each other across four continents. For example, Apple alleges that Samsung copied the slide-to-unlock technology of its iPhone and iPad devices.