Apple marketing Chief Phil Schiller was on the back foot during a damages retrial between the two companies in a San Jose, California, federal court. Particularly when asked if Apple only launched the iPad mini as a response to competition in the tablet market. It was this competition which did not really exist until Samsung started churning out its products, and the implication was that the patent war was all about stopping competition rather than protecting trademarks.
"It's much harder to create demand and people question our innovation and design skills like people never used to," said Schiller. He admitted that Samsung "weakened the world view of Apple as this great designer and innovator."
Apple and Samsung are engaged in global litigation over each other's patents. Last year, Apple was awarded over $1 billion after it convinced a jury that Samsung copied iPhone features, such as using fingers to pinch and zoom on the screen, along with design touches such as the phone's flat, black glass screen.
Koh ruled on Friday that Apple had not presented sufficient evidence to recover lost profits on four out of the five patents in the retrial. That could pare back how much lost profits the jury ultimately awards to Apple. An Apple representative declined to comment on Koh's ruling. Samsung says it should only have to pay a total of $52.7 million.