Apple’s request for summary judgement in Samsung case rejected

Apple was denied its request for a summary judgement in its infringement case against Samsung today, after the Korean company released rejected evidence, which Apple says could sway the jury.

U.S. Judge Lucy Koh called the release by Samsung a “real and possible danger,” as the jury had already been chosen and that discarded evidence could make them biased.

“I will not let any theatrics or any sideshows distract us from what we are here to do,” said Koh during the trial.

She then questioned the nine jurors individually to see if they were still able to make a judgement fairly. All but one of the jurors denied having seen any articles on the event. The one who did, “Juror number 7,” said he had only read headlines and could still fairly decide the outcome based only on evidence included in the courtroom.

Samsung released the rejected evidence to press Tuesday with a statement saying that “the excluded evidence would have established beyond doubt that Samsung did not copy the iPhone design. Fundamental fairness requires that the jury decide the case based on all the evidence.”

The evidence included a number of documents that tried to prove Apple’s iPhone was inspired by Sony phone designs.

After the release, Apple asked Judge Koh to deliver a summary judgement. It released this statement, asking for more than just a rap over the knuckles for Samsung:

“The proper remedy for Samsung’s misconduct is judgment that Apple’s asserted phone design patents are valid and infringed. Through its extraordinary actions yesterday, Samsung sought to sway the jury on the design patent issues, and the proper remedy is to enter judgment against Samsung on those same patents. It would be, to be sure, a significant sanction. But serious misconduct can only be cured through a serious sanction — and here, Samsung’s continuing and escalating misconduct merits a severe penalty that will establish that Samsung is not above the law.”

Angry Apple image via Shutterstock