Purposeful Copying did not Establish Willfulness

The court denied plaintiff's motion for judgment as a matter of law that defendant willfully infringed its electronic device design patent. "[T]he jury found that, as a subjective matter, [defendant] did not willfully infringe the [patent-in-suit]. . . . Moreover, [plaintiff] has failed to cite any evidence of actual knowledge of infringement on [defendant's] part. Instead, [plaintiff] relies on evidence that [defendant] purposely imitated [its] designs. Evidence of copying, however, is not evidence of infringement or knowledge thereof. . . . [Defendant] may have believed that any elements of [plaintiff's] designs that it was copying were not protected by the limited scope of the [patent]."

Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., et. al., 5-11-cv-01846 (CAND January 29, 2013, Order) (Koh, J.).