In latest news from the Samsung vs. Apple patent case, Samsung on Wednesday filed an emergency motion with presiding Judge Lucy Koh to halt Apple’s damages retrial.

Why the halt? Because according to court documents, the US Patent and Trademark Office has suggested that Apple’s “pinch to zoom” patent (which much of the patent trial revolves around) might not actually be valid.

“This PTO decision calls into question the entire jury verdict in this trial,” Samsung has said. “During its presentation, Apple made a deliberate decision not to separate the damages between the different asserted patents. Therefore, it will be impossible to determine what allocation of damages belong to the invalid ‘915 patent versus the other patents.”

[Update: Apple has opposed the plea.]

In the meantime, the jury is (quite literally) still out. Jurors have so far failed to reach a decision and will return for a third day of deliberations to determine how much Samsung Apple for copying key features of its iOS devices.

A previous jury found Samsung guilty of infringing on several Apple patents, and ordered the company to pay $1.05 billion in compensation. However Judge Lucy Koh threw out $450 million of those damages and has ordered the present jury to recalculate damages.

Apple’s legal team is asking for $380 million, while Samsung says it owes “just” $52 million.

• SourceCnet