Apple Inc. (AAPL): Jury Misconduct Charged by Samsung Lawyers

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was due to push for a tripling of its $1 billion award in its patent-infringement court case in a California court last month, but as expected, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is not just challenging the increasing of the award, but it’s going so far as to say that jury misconduct should void the award and force a new trial, according to a number of court documents filed Monday.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. lawyers filed paperwork claiming that the jury acted inappropriately in its consideration of whether Samsung infringed on several Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) patents, which the jury ultimately found in Apple’s favor in late August. The Samsung lawyers referred to several other cases where jury misconduct invalidated jury decisions – which includes determinations that outside information (other than that presented at trial) and “expertise” provided by jurors were not to be considered in deliberations, which is one of the more prominent discussions since the foreman of the jury was interviewed several times after the trial – and referred to his experience as a patent holder to give some background in the patenting process to the jury – information that was not provided anywhere during the trial itself. Jury instructions stated that the jury must consider only the evidence in the trial.

Samsung has won a couple of legal battles in other countries, and it seems that the company may have a case to make to at the very least, force Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to invest more money in a new trial.

While there is no determination yet as to whether the appeal will be heard, but certainly knowing that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will have to continue to battle this case – not that it’s a big surprise, considering the magnitude of what is at stake for both companies – it’s very possible that future legal fees in some way are calculated into the stock price by investors, including hedge-fund manager Julian Robertson of Tiger Management. How much do you think this will impact the company’s bottom line?