Apple: Samsung doctors exhibits, misleads
updated 03:43 pm EDT, Fri August 3, 2012
Apple says evidence selectively shot to obscure copying
Apple fired another salvo in the ongoing patent struggle between the iPhone maker and Samsung, alleging that exhibits Samsung plans to submit for cross-examination are produced in a manner that deliberately obscures the South Korean company's imitation of Apple's designs. Hiding the evidence in such a manner, Apple contends, would give the jury deciding the case only part of what Apple believes is the full story behind Samsung's product and interface designs. As AppleInsider details, Apple has raised a number of objections to Samsung's cross examination exhibits, but Samsung's legal team has employed a number of procedural tactics to soften the impact of Apple's maneuvers.
At question is whether the images Samsung intends to put forward showing off its products fully display the extent to which Samsung's product design and UI are similar to -- or, in Apple's contention, are copied from -- Apple's own line of iDevices. Samsung's product images show the Galaxy S from an angle, with the screen turned off or obscured. Apple alleges that this method of portrayal misleads the jury by making it seem as though Samsung's products are only superficially similar to Apple's own. Further proof, Apple contends, is evident when considering the icons Samsung uses in its UI, many of which appear similar to those seen in Apple's iOS.
Samsung, for its part, argues that its exhibits are not misleading because the company only whited out the screens to allow viewers to compare the overall design elements of its hardware. Samsung claims it was aiming to allow a comparison of the distinct features of the top and bottom of the phone.
The two companies have been doing battle around the world, as Apple attempts to prevent what it views as stolen ideas from entering markets across the globe. This is not the first time one company has accused the other of being misleading, either. Samsung has previously claimed that Apple doctored evidence in their German trial to misconstrue the proportions of Samsung's Galaxy Tab device, making it appear more similar in proportion to Apple's iPad than it is in actuality.
Apple also holds that Samsung's process for filing objections in the case has been aimed at introducing confusion and delay into the proceedings. Samsung has, in the past, filed objections for entire direct exhibits and demonstrations instead of for particular elements of those proceedings. This, Apple contends, in combination with a supposed general vagueness in Samsung's objections, functions to muddy the proceedings and to confuse the court.
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Re: "This, Apple contends, in combination with a supposed general vagueness in Samsung's objections, functions to muddy the proceedings and to confuse the court."
Classic defense attorney tactics. They don't have to actually prove anything. They only have to plant one little seed of doubt in the jurors' minds. So they'll do anything and everything, logical or illogical, rational or irrational, to plant that doubt.
And you thought Microsoft invented FUD. Nope. Been around for centuries.