Apple Inc. v. Samsung Elecs. Co.

• Decision Date: 18 May 2015
• Docket Number: 2015–1029.,Nos. 2014–1335,s. 2014–1335
• Citation: 786 F.3d 983,114 U.S.P.Q.2d 1953
• Parties: APPLE INC., a California corporation, Plaintiff–Appellee v. SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., a Korean corporation, Samsung Electronics America, Inc., a New York corporation, Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, Defendants–Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit

786 F.3d 983

114 U.S.P.Q.2d 1953

APPLE INC., a California corporation, Plaintiff–Appellee

v.SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., a Korean corporation, Samsung Electronics America, Inc., a New York corporation, Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, Defendants–Appellants.

Nos. 2014–1335

2015–1029.

United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit.

May 18, 2015.

William F. Lee, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, Boston, MA, argued for plaintiff-appellee. Also represented by Andrew J. Danford, Mark Christopher Fleming, Eric Fletcher, Lauren B. Fletcher, Sarah R. Frazier, Kevin Scott Prussia ; James Quarles, III, Mark D. Selwyn, Thomas Gregory Sprankling, Washington, DC; Rachel Krevans, Christopher Robinson, Nathaniel Bryan Sabri, Ruth N. Borenstein, Morrison & Foerster LLP, San Francisco, CA.

Kathleen M. Sullivan, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, New York, N.Y., argued for defendants-appellants. Also represented by William Adams ; Robert Jason Becher, Susan Rachel Estrich, B. Dylan Proctor, Michael Thomas Zeller, Los Angeles, CA; Victoria Fishman Maroulis, Redwood Shores, CA; Kevin Alexander Smith, San Francisco, CA.

Erik Scott Jaffe, Erik S. Jaffe, P.C., Washington, DC, for amicus curiae Hispanic Leadership Fund.

Tim Delaney, Brinks Gilson & Lione, Chicago, IL, for amicus curiae National Grange of the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry. Also represented by Laura A. Lydigsen.

Mark A. Lemley, Durie Tangri LLP, San Francisco, CA, for amici curiae David Abrams, Sarah Burstein, Michael A. Carrier, Bernard Chao, Andrew Chin, Ralph D. Clifford, Jorge Contreras, Thomas Cotter, Robin Feldman, William Gallagher, Jon M. Garon, Shubha Ghosh, Amy Landers, Mark A. Lemley, Oskar Liivak, Brian J. Love, Jonathan Masur, Stephen McJohn, Mark P. McKenna, Tyler T. Ochoa, Michael Risch, Jason Michael Schultz, Lea Shaver, Jessica Silbey, Katherine J. Strandburg, Rebecca Tushnet, Ryan Vacca.

Joseph Carl Cecere, Jr., Cecere PC, Dallas, TX, for amicus curiae The National Black Chamber of Commerce.

Matthew Schruers, Computer & Communications Industry Association, Washington, DC, for amicus curiae Computer & Communications Industry Association.

Mark David Janis, Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Bloomington, IN, for amici curiae Jason J. Du Mont, Mark David Janis.

Perry J. Saidman, Saidman DesignLaw Group, Silver Spring, MD, for amici curiae Design Ideas, Ltd., Novo Nordisk Inc., Lutron Electronics, Inc., Nuvasive, Inc., Method Products, PBC, Oakley, Inc., Deckers Outdoor Corporation, Kohler Company.

Joel Sayres, Faegre Baker Daniels LLP, Denver, CO, for amicus curiae Crocs, Inc.

Brian Buroker, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Washington, DC, for amici curiae Michael McCoy, Steven Carl Visser, Lorraine Justice, Jim Agutter, Prasad Boradkar, James G. Budd, Rama Chorpash, Gregory Bryant Darby, Ed Dorsa, Tom Gattis, Allan Hastings, James Kaufman, Brook Kennedy, Haig Khachatoorian, Carol Joan Lasch, Thornton Lothrop, Tom Matano, George L. McCain, Zhenyu Cheryl Qian, Lance G. Rake, James Morley Read, Kevin Reeder, Jinseup Shin, aka Ted Shin, Bruce M. Tharp, Gregory Thomas, Richard Wilfred Yelle. Also represented by Howard S. Hogan, Mark Andrew Perry, Sarah Sladic, Lucas C. Townsend ; Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr., Los Angeles, CA; Hervey Mark Lyon, Palo Alto, CA.

Mark S. Davies, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Washington, DC, for amici curiae Charles L. Mauro, James Douglas Alsup, Jr., Charles Austen Angell, Daniel W. Ashcraft, Joseph M. Ballay, Alex Bally, Michelle S. Berryman, Eric Beyer, Robert Ian Blaich, Gordon Paul Bruce, Robert Brunner, William Bullock, Bruce Claxton, Del Coates, Robert J. Cohn, James Couch, George Russell Daniels, Mark Dziersk, John Edson, Gerard Furbershaw, Carroll Gantz, John Leavitt Gard, Michael Garten, Donald M. Genaro, Betsy Goodrich, Stephen G. Hauser, James J. Lesko, Scott David Mason, Patricia Moore, Louis Nelson, Christopher J. Parke, Nancy Perkins, Gordon Perry, Samuel B. Petre, Dale Raymond, Raymond W. Riley, Brian Roderman, Bryce G. Rutter, Andrew Serbinski, Ritasue Siegel, Paul Specht, Budd Steinhilber, John V. Stram, Kerstin Nelsen Strom, Mathieu Turpault, Gary Van Deursen, Frank Von Holzhausen, Sohrab Vossoughi, Arnold Wasserman, Allan E. Weaver, Edmund A. Weaver, Robert Welsh, Stephen B. Wilcox, Angela Yeh. Also represented by Katherine M. Kopp ; Rachel Wainer Apter, New York, N.Y.; Will Melehani, Irvine, CA.

Before PROST, Chief Judge, O'MALLEY and CHEN, Circuit Judges.

Opinion

PROST, Chief Judge.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Samsung Electronics America, Inc., Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC (collectively, “Samsung”) appeal from a final judgment of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in favor of Apple Inc. (“Apple”).

A jury found that Samsung infringed Apple's design and utility patents and diluted Apple's trade dresses. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the jury's verdict on the design patent infringements, the validity of two utility patent claims, and the damages awarded for the design and utility patent infringements appealed by Samsung. However, we reverse the jury's findings that the asserted trade dresses are protectable. We therefore vacate the jury's damages awards against the Samsung products that were found liable for trade dress dilution and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Background

Apple sued Samsung in April 2011. On August 24, 2012, the first jury reached a verdict that numerous Samsung smartphones infringed and diluted Apple's patents and trade dresses in various combinations and awarded over $1 billion in damages.

The infringed design patents are U.S. Design Patent Nos. D618,677 (“D'677 patent”), D593,087 (“D'087 patent”), and D604,305 (“D'305 patent”), which claim certain design elements embodied in Apple's iPhone. The infringed utility patents are U.S. Patent Nos. 7,469,381 (“'381 patent”), 7,844,915 (“'915 patent”), and 7,864,163 (“'163 patent”), which claim certain features in the iPhone's user interface. The diluted trade dresses are Trademark Registration No. 3,470,983 (“'983 trade dress”) and an unregistered trade dress defined in terms of certain elements in the configuration of the iPhone.

Following the first jury trial, the district court upheld the jury's infringement, dilution, and validity findings over Samsung's post-trial motion. The district court also upheld $639,403,248 in damages, but ordered a partial retrial on the remainder of the damages because they had been awarded for a period when Samsung lacked notice of some of the asserted patents. The jury in the partial retrial on damages awarded Apple $290,456,793, which the district court upheld over Samsung's second post-trial motion. On March 6, 2014, the district court entered a final judgment in favor of Apple, and Samsung filed a notice of appeal. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(1).

Discussion

We review the denial of Samsung's post-trial motions under the Ninth Circuit's procedural standards. See Revolution Eyewear, Inc. v. Aspex Eyewear, Inc., 563 F.3d 1358, 1370–71 (Fed.Cir.2009). The Ninth Circuit reviews de novo a denial of a motion for judgment as a matter of law. Id. “The test is whether the evidence, construed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, permits only one reasonable conclusion, and that conclusion is contrary to that of the jury.” Id. (citing Theme Promotions, Inc. v. News Am. Mktg. FSI, 546 F.3d 991, 999 (9th Cir.2008) ).

The Ninth Circuit reviews a denial of a motion for a new trial for an abuse of discretion. Revolution Eyewear, 563 F.3d at 1372. “In evaluating jury instructions, prejudicial error results when, looking to the instructions as a whole, the substance of the applicable law was [not] fairly and correctly covered.” Gantt v. City of Los Angeles, 717 F.3d 702, 707 (9th Cir.2013) (quoting Swinton v. Potomac Corp., 270 F.3d 794, 802 (9th Cir.2001) ) (alteration in original). The Ninth Circuit orders a new trial based on jury instruction error only if the error was prejudicial. Id. A motion for a new trial based on insufficiency of evidence may be granted “only if the verdict is against the great weight of the evidence, or it is quite clear that the jury has reached a seriously erroneous result.” Incalza v. Fendi N. Am., Inc., 479 F.3d 1005, 1013 (9th Cir.2007) (internal quotation marks omitted).

Samsung appeals numerous legal and evidentiary bases for the liability findings and damages awards in the three categories of intellectual property asserted by Apple: trade dresses, design patents, and utility patents. We address each category in turn.

I. Trade Dresses

The jury found Samsung liable for the likely dilution of Apple's iPhone trade dresses under the Lanham Act. When reviewing Lanham Act claims, we look to the law of the regional circuit where the district court sits. ERBE Elektromedizin GmbH v. Canady Tech. LLC, 629 F.3d 1278, 1287 (Fed.Cir.2010). We therefore apply Ninth Circuit law.

The Ninth Circuit has explained that “[t]rade dress is the totality of elements in which a product or service is packaged or presented.” Stephen W. Boney, Inc. v. Boney Servs., Inc., 127 F.3d 821, 828 (9th Cir.1997). The essential purpose of a trade dress is the same as that of a trademarked word: to identify the source of the product. 1 McCarthy on Trademarks and Unfair Competition § 8:1 (4th ed.) (“[L]ike a word asserted to be a trademark, the elements making up the alleged trade dress must have been used in such a manner as to denote product source.”). In this respect, “protection for trade dress exists to promote competition.” TrafFix Devices, Inc. v. Mktg. Displays, Inc., 532 U.S. 23, 28, 121 S.Ct. 1255, 149 L.Ed.2d 164 (2001).

The protection for source identification, however, must be balanced against “a fundamental right to compete through imitation of a competitor's product ....” Leatherman Tool Grp., Inc. v. Cooper Indus., Inc., 199 F.3d 1009, 1011–12 (9th Cir.1999). Thi...