Apple's $1b award may hit Samsung's US sales

Apple Inc won more than $1 billion after a jury found Samsung Electronics Co infringed six of seven patents for its mobile devices in a verdict that may lead to a ban on US sales of handheld electronics a judge deems violate Apple's rights.

Apple won less than half of what it sought in damages in the first lawsuit to go before a US jury in the fight to dominate the global smartphone market, although US District Judge Lucy Koh may later triple the damages against Samsung under federal law. Samsung avoided a finding of damages for antitrust law violations or breach of contract.

Koh, who presided over the four-week trial, scheduled a hearing next month to consider Apple's request to make permanent a ban on the United States sales of Samsung devices including its Galaxy Tab 10.1 computer, as well as to extend the ban to other Samsung products. Jurors in federal court in San Jose, California, found after just three days of deliberations that Samsung infringed three software patents related to its tablet computer and two of those related to Samsung's smartphones.

"This is a huge victory for Apple," Mark Lemley, a Stanford Law School professor, said in an e-mail. "The verdict is just large enough to be the largest surviving patent verdict in history."

Samsung will ask the judge to overturn the verdict, said Mira Jang, an outside spokeswoman for Samsung, in an e-mail. If Koh doesn't overturn the award, Samsung will take the case to appeal, Jang said.

The "verdict should not be viewed as a win for Apple but as a loss for the American consumer," Samsung said in a separate e-mailed statement. Samsung said the verdict wasn't the "final word" in the case or in courts and tribunals around the world.