The judge presiding over a patent infringement lawsuit that Apple (AAPL +2.08%) had brought against Samsung cut almost in half the $1 billion that a jury awarded Apple last August.
Judge Lucy Koh vacated over $450 million from the original penalty because that award was based on "an impermissible legal theory," and the jury could not therefore "reasonably calculate" the amount of damages caused by 14 Samsung products. The judge has ordered a second trial to cover those products.
The final amount that Samsung may or may not have to pay Apple won't be determined until the outcome of the second trial is determined. A date for that trial has not yet been set.
Intellectual analyst Florian Mueller wrote in his Foss Patents blog that Apple could try to immediately collect the almost $600 million that wasn't vacated from the award, but would probably not see any money before the suit is completely resolved.
