Samsung and Apple Face the Court

Alex Park

 

Momentous patent trial over the iPhone and iPad begins

 The long-awaited patent trial between the corporate giants Apple and Samsung began on the Monday morning of July 30^th in court, with a jury selection based in San Jose,Calif. Potential jurors were questioned on any possible ties to both of the companies as U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh and lawyers from Apple and Samsung cross-examined and questioned the jurors for most of the afternoon (Washington Post).

Even before the selected jurors were sworn in, lawyers from both sides engaged in last-minute bargaining in court, with Samsung’s lawyers arguing that testimony from a former Apple tech designer should be included. Judge Koh ruled out the testimony. Apple is currently suing Samsung for intellectual property infringement, claiming that Samsung had copied Apple’s hardware and software for the iPhone and iPad for its Galaxy smartphone series and the Tab. Samsung denies these claims, and is countersuing, claiming that Apple had infringed on Samsung’s 3G transmission functionality (Wall Street Journal).

AJ Nandi, senior class president of John Jay High School, said, “I think this lawsuit is just wasting both of the companies’ time and money. It’s only inevitable that similar technologies are developed among innovative companies. And that’s what they should be doing—innovating, not bogged down in expensive lawsuits.”

The trials between Samsung and Apple has spread over to four continents and 10 countries. In April of 2012, a U.S. court ordered the chief executive officers of the tech powerhouses to have a mandated meeting to settle their issues, but to no avail. At stake are billions of dollars worth of damages, including the 2.5 billion Apple is suing Samsung (NY Times). Should any of these cases pass, there may be potential bans on imported smartphone brands from Samsung, tipping the smartphone industry towards Apple.

The trial is expected to last through August, and started with Judge Koh giving a preliminary injunction on Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Nexus, banning the sale of the Galaxy Tab in European markets. Samsung lawyers responded by stating, “In this lawsuit, Apple seeks to stifle legitimate competition and limit consumer choice to maintain its historically exorbitant profits.” Samsung lawyers say that they can also prove that the Samsung had already created its own smartphone designs and plans before 2007, predating the iPhone launch (Forbes).