(CN) - A federal judge reduced the amount of attorneys' fees that Apple and Samsung owe each other as sanctions in the multibillion patent dispute. Apple accused Korean electronics giant Samsung of infringing on all of its utility patents and all but one of four design patents. A nine-member jury, two of them engineers and four more who work in the tech industry, sided with Apple in August and ordered Samsung to pay $1.05 billion in damages. Apple had sought $2.75 billion. During pretrial discovery, both companies had dragged their feet to produce requested documentation, triggering sanctions in the form of attorneys' fees. Apple sought more than $116,000 for a motion to compel that included four underlying issues. Samsung asked for $258,000 based on its three separate motions to compel. Noting that both companies complicated the computation process by failing to adequately fulfill the supporting documentation requirements, U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal said he had no choice but to base his awards off the evidence at hand. "Having already given both parties an additional opportunity to supply the necessary support for their request, the court finds no good reason to permit them to try again to comply with the requirements for fee requests," Grewal wrote. "The court will simply consider the deficient documents Apple and Samsung have provided as best it can and count any ambiguities against the party who created them." The San Jose, Calif., federal judge awarded Apple $21,554 in fees and Samsung $160,069 on Wednesday.
↧