Both Sides Won (and lost)

Apple and Samsung each won damages in the most recent round of their patent-infringement fight. But their victories, deemed modest by legal experts, may have come at a far greater cost, hurting the image and reputation of the world's leading makers of mobile devices.

An eight-person jury on Friday returned a mixed verdict in this year's Apple v. Samsung patent-infringement case over patents related to their smartphones and tablets. Samsung was found to have infringed three of Apple's five patents at issue and was ordered to pay $119.6 million, much less than the $2.2 billion sought by the maker of the iPhone. At the same time,

Apple was found to have infringed one of Samsung's two patents and ordered to pay $158,400. Samsung was asking for $6.2 million.

"You can look at this as both sides won or both sides lost," said Pierre R. Yanney, a patent attorney and partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. "Apple won on infringement but got one-tenth of what it wanted. Samsung lost on infringement but cut the damages down by 90 percent."