"Controversy"?

I wouldn't call it a "controversy." Some websites reported it, but it's really not a full-blown controversy. Mueller himself stated that he did not think anything illegal had happened.

Conflict of Interest

It is a conflict of interest. It does call into mind if the judge was BIASED when ruling against Apple, realizing he could be hired by Samsung if he did so.

Maybe I've been living under a rock, but since when do supposedly impartial judges still on the bench get to take side jobs where they must, for money, take positions that will inevitably bring them into conflict with future decisions?

Originally Posted by chas_m

Maybe I've been living under a rock, but since when do supposedly impartial judges still on the bench get to take side jobs where they must, for money, take positions that will inevitably bring them into conflict with future decisions?

That makes no sense.

This judge was arguably a legal expert on patents, and as such, he is valuable to Samsung and got hired by them four months after the relevant judgment.

If it is deemed there might be a conflict of interest for certain future court cases, then he won't be assigned to those court cases.

The fact that he has taken on a specific side job does not per se make him unfit for the job as a judge. If that were the case, no judge would be able to take any side job, ever, as there is bound to be some court case eventually that would be relevantly affected by the side interest.