Hacker News Reader

I expected this to be a title typo ($2m instead of $2) but no, that's the correct number. I'm not informed on this case so I have to wonder why, the article doesn't say.

View on HN

Juries can be kind of random. If it's hard to figure out what the dollar amount of damages should be, they might pick a small or big number to be done.

The jury must've felt that Qualcomm prevailed on the legal merits but thought Qualcomm's damage claims were bullshit. Juries tend to be pretty emotional. When they feel one party clearly wronged the other, they can award extravagant damages, which is why jury damages are often later reduced by judges for being unjustified.

Conversely, when they award $2.00 of damages, to me they're telling Qualcomm "You're technically right but shouldn't have wasted everyone's time bringing this stupid lawsuit."

Reply on news.ycombinator.com