The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Monday overturned a lower court ruling that ordered Samsung to pay $14.5 million in damages to an American filmmaker.
The appeals court ruled that Samsung must pay $7.5.
million to the director, a filmmaker named Michael A. Bostrom, in a lawsuit filed last year.
Samsung said it paid $5.2 million, and the director sued for $2.5 billion in damages.
The decision came in a case that had been before the appeals court before it was dismissed by a lower judge.
A jury awarded the filmmaker $14 million in September.
Bostrom sued Samsung in November 2016.
He argued that Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy S4 infringed his copyrights, including by using their cameras to capture video of his performances.
The U.K. Supreme Court rejected the appeal last year, but Samsung appealed that decision to the appeals panel.
The panel agreed with Bostom that Samsung violated Bostam’s copyrights by selling the Galaxy Note series, and said it would reverse the decision.
It found that the court erred in ruling Samsung liable for infringing the work of another person who was not a director of the film.
