You may recall that Apple’s copycat suit against Samsung took an interesting turn recently when the accused requested to see Cupertino’s forthcoming products, including the unannounced iPhone 5 and iPad 3. That won’t be happening, since the judge claims that Samsung isn’t entitled to see them.
AppleInsider is reporting that Apple has scored a small victory in its lawsuit against Samsung, who is accused of copying Cupertino’s mobile products for their own Galaxy series. After Apple was granted a look at Samsung’s recent products to strengthen their case against the Korean consumer electronics giant, Samsung fired back with a request to see Apple’s unreleased products -- namely the iPhone 5 and iPad 3.
Apple quickly dismissed the request as “attempts to harass,” while continually referring to Samsung as “the copyist” in their filings. Apparently, Judge Lucy Koh agrees, pushing out an 11-page order on Tuesday denying Samsung’s motion to “compel expedited discovery.”
"If Samsung had requested reasonable discovery along the lines discussed at the hearing on Apple's motion for expedited discovery, the Court would have granted the request," Koh reveals in the order. “However, as Samsung has not requested such discovery in this motion, the Court cannot order it. In any case, it appears that Apple may be willing to provide such discovery without the need for Court intervention."
Samsung’s motion was filed in late May, shortly after the court ordered the company to “show prototypes of its new, already-announced devices to Apple.” According to Foss Patents, Judge Koh “made a lot of effort” to explain that Samsung is entitled to the same treatment as Apple, but seeing Cupertino’s unannounced products was not relevant to the case.
The court has pushed for both sides to resolve the dispute amicably, with rumors that Apple and Samsung were indeed talking. However, executives for the Korean smartphone maker this week denied that such conversations were taking place.
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