South Korean tech titan Samsung Electronics on Friday vowed to consider all options over a US verdict that ordered it to pay its rival Apple additional damages for design infringement, including seeking an appeal.

A jury of the US District Court in San Jose made a decision that Samsung must pay Apple $539 million in damages for infringement of Apple’s design patents.

“Today’s decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favor of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages,” Samsung said in a statement.

“We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers,” it added.

A market insider told The Korea Herald that it might consider “additional legal action,” as part of “all options,” suggesting that it would pursue another round of legal battles at the appeals court.

The legal battle between the Korean and US tech giants began over design infringement in 2011.

The first ruling was made in 2012, which judged Samsung’s smartphones and tablet PCs had violated Apple’s designs.

Apple claimed Samsung violated its designs, such as a “black rectangular front face with rounded corners,” a “rectangular front face with rounded corners and a raised rim,” and a “grid of 16 colorful icons on a black screen.”

Samsung paid the US company $548 million in compensation in 2015. Of the total amount, $399 million was damages for design infringements.

If the latest verdict is officially confirmed, Samsung will have to pay an additional $140 million.

According to the industry, since the very beginning of the conflict, Apple had demanded $1 billion in total compensation from Samsung, claiming that the Korean company raised $2.3 billion in sales and $1 billion in profit by selling copycat products.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)