After awarding Apple a $290 million win in a damages retrial part of the first Apple vs Samsung U.S. trial, jurors told Bloomberg that one Apple witness was the determining factor for the outcome of the case. According to Colleen Allen and Barry Goldman-Hall, two of the jurors assigned to the case, it was expert Julie L. Davis that tipped the balance in Apple’s favor.
“Ms. Davies was on it,” Allen said, adding that Davies was a “superstar witness” even when under fire from Samsung’s cross-examination. Davies, a certified public accountant, was a new witness for Apple’s side, which largely brought up the same witnesses as last year.
Called to replace an Apple damages expert who passed away, Davies apparently made an impression with the jurors when arguing Apple’s case against Samsung’s demands for lower damages. The South Korean giant wanted to have $178 million cut from the $230 million in its profits that were attributable to patent infringement, but it was not able to give enough evidence against Apple. Davis said that “absolutely none of it should come out.”
In the end, the jurors chose “the middle of the road,” and only cut half of that amount. In total, Samsung has to pay $929.83 million in damages to Apple, which is less than $100 million short than the initial $1.05 billion verdict it won in Apple 2012. Not counting appeals and other legal matters between the two parties, a new Apple-Samsung patent trial is scheduled for March concerning newer smartphones including flagship devices such as the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3.
