Jury deliberations finally begin today in the super-trial between Apple and Samsung. True to form with the case, there was drama and surprises right up to the final statements.
Meanwhile, and just in time for a much-rumored new iPhone launch, Google's Motorola filed a new patent-infringement lawsuit against Apple with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in Washington.
Never a dull moment with Law & Apple!
Here we are, at the beginning of the end. Jury deliberations begin today for case 11-01846, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, regarding Apple v. Samsung. You may have heard about it, it's kind of a big deal.
Closing arguments between Apple and Samsung were intense yesterday. Apple lawyer Bill Lee delivered the final rebuttal with this gem to Samsung: "All we're saying is: make your own. Make your own designs, make your own phones, and compete on your own innovations."
And now nine jury members will have a go at deciding what could be a $2.7 billion dollar veridct, and to get there, they'll only have to consider a 700-question verdict form. Right down to the wire, though, Apple and Samsung bickered about what to include and discard from the form, as well as overall instructions to the jury.
Samsung: Can we not keep showing this to the jury?
Samsung wanted the adverse jury instruction, the one that said Samsung destroyed evidence, deleted. If not, Samsung at least wanted the jury to be told that Apple did the same thing. Judge Koh surprised everyone by eventually granting Samsung's request, and many considered this to be a huge last minute win for the beleaguered Korean phone manufacturer. Let's face it: not much has gone Samsung's way in this trial, so any victory seems pretty huge. Clearly having the instruction given to the jury would have helped Apple, but it also would have provided Samsung with a huge cause for appeal. Since Samsung really did nothing in this case to disprove the preponderance of evidence Apple produced, it seems likely that Cupertino will prevail in this case even without the disputed jury instruction. Now, should Apple win the jury, and win big, Samsung may regret not having the adverse jury instruction to cry foul about.
Last friday, according to Bloomberg, Google's Motorola unleashed a new lawsuit against Apple, claiming patent infringement and seeking to prevent Apple from importing the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and "various Apple computers."
Motorola's official statement regarding the filing stated that the Google subsidiary "would like to settle these patent matters, but Apple’s unwillingness to work out a license leaves us little choice but to defend ourselves and our engineers’ innovations."
There was no mention in the statement about timing the lawsuit to go along with the expected release of the newest iPhone next month.
It just seemed like the right time is all.
The complaint, filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), is the second by Motorola against Apple, and a ruling on the first case is expected as early as this Friday.
Motorola and Apple have been doing the courtroom shuffle since licensing talks failed in 2010 and Apple decided solving these types of things would be way easier with lawyers.
Adrian writes the weekly Law & Apple column and the occasional feature story for MacLife.com. Follow him on Twitter, or subscribe to him on Facebook.
