Apple and Samsung are gearing up to start a second bout of a grueling patent trial in San Jose federal court on Monday.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, “the second trial centers on Apple’s claims that more recent lines of Samsung products, such as the Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy Tab 2, violate five of Apple’s patents, including the Siri voice and slide-to-unlock features. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh has already sided with Apple on one of the patents, the auto-complete text feature, so that claim will just boil down to damages.”
In this trial as compared to the previous one in 2012, Samsung’s Samsung’s witness list includes several Google executives who are expected to testify about the Mountain View search giant’s Android developments.
“In this trial, however, Apple’s parallel feud with Google and its Android operating system will perhaps play more of a central role than the first trial,” Howard Mintz writes for the San Jose Mercury News. “To many in the industry, Apple’s patent fight with Samsung has always been as much about the late Steve Jobs’ grievance with what he considered Android’s duplication of Apple technology (he once promised “Thermonuclear War” with Google); Samsung until recently has relied heavily on Android in its smartphones and tablets.”
In other news, Samsung has already filed an objection over a US government video (above) intended to instruct jurors on how patents are granted. The video, which has been updated since the first Apple-Samsung trial, now shows some Apple products. Samsung attorneys believe this is “highly prejudicial,” as it would leave jurors with the idea that Apple products are innovative and hence – patentable.
Update:
“Judge Koh issued a ruling noting that “Samsung’s objection to Apple’s proposed version of the Federal Judicial Center instructional video (ECF No. 1534) is overruled. The parties shall bring the November 2013 version of the video, ‘The Patent Process: An Overview for Jurors,’ and shall include the handout referenced in the video in the jury binders.”
