Apple tries to get another $15.7m out of rival for legal feesThe sum if recovered, would cover 25% of Apple total legal bill for its prolonged patent litigaiton against the Koreans, ongoing since 2010.
Apple filed the motion on Thursday last in Northern District of California, arguing:
“Samsung’s willful, deliberate, and calculated copying of Apple’s iPhone makes this an ‘exceptional case’ in which an award of attorneys’ fees is warranted.
“The evidence that Samsung deliberately copied every aspect of Apple’s revolutionary iPhone product was overwhelming. Apple prevailed on one or more claims of trade dress dilution or patent infringement against 26 of 28 accused products.
The motion also stated: “given Samsung’s blatant disregard of Apple’s IP rights, Apple should not be forced to bear the full expense of prosecuting its claims.”
However, Foss Patents blogger Florian Mueller, notes this practice is not the norm in the U.S. under current rules, but notes “”loser pays”-type fee-shifting is a hot topic” at the moment.
Included in Apple legal bill, which totaled $60m was: $811,196.59 for printed or electronically recorded transcripts, $5,147,841.01 for exemplification and the costs of making copies, reports Apple Insider.
Cupertino wasn’t the only techie looking to recoup million dollar legal bills resulting from patent litigation this week.
On Tuesday last, Microsoft filed a motion against Google-owned Motorola to recover legal costs of almost US$763K in relation to its patents battle.
