San Jose, California - Apple's worldwide legal crusade
against the Android mobile operating system drew toward a climax on Tuesday as
the iPhone maker's attorneys accused Samsung of taking a shortcut by copying
Apple's designs after realising it could not keep up.
Closing arguments were delivered at trial between Apple and
Samsung Electronics in a federal court in San Jose, California. The jury will
begin deliberating on Wednesday.
Samsung attorney Charles Verhoeven countered by urging
jurors to consider that a verdict in favor of Apple could stifle competition
and reduce choices for consumers.
"Rather than competing in the marketplace, Apple is
seeking a competitive edge in the courtroom," Verhoeven said. "(Apple
thinks) it's entitled to having a monopoly on a rounded rectangle with a large
screen. It's amazing really."
Apple and Samsung are going toe-to-toe in a patents dispute
that mirrors the struggle for industry supremacy between the two companies,
which control more than half of worldwide smartphone sales.
A win for Apple could have a major impact on the industry
because the South Korean company's mobile products are run on Google's Android
operating system, popular software that is used by many other manufacturers.
Before he died, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs told his biographer he intended to
go "thermonuclear" on Android, saying it had copied Apple.
If the jury determines Samsung violated Apple's valid
patents, US District Judge Lucy Koh could impose sales bans against the Korean
company's products.
In court on Tuesday, Apple attorney Harold McElhinny urged
jurors to consider the testimony of a South Korean designer who said she worked
day and night on Samsung's phones for three months.
"In those critical three months, Samsung was able to
copy and incorporate the result of Apple's four-year investment in hard work
and ingenuity - without taking any of the risks," McElhinny said.
Apple is seeking more than $2.5bn in damages from Samsung.
An Apple expert said Samsung earned 35.5% margins on the tablets and phones at
issue in the lawsuit from mid-2010 through March 2012, on $8.16bn in US
revenue.
Samsung has disputed that figure.
Apple accuses Samsung of copying the design and some
features of its iPad and iPhone, and is asking for a sales ban in addition to
monetary damages. Samsung, which is trying to expand in the United States, says
Apple infringed several patents, including some for its key wireless
technology.
Both Apple and Samsung used a series of internal emails,
witness testimony from designers, product demonstrations and mockups to present
their case.
Crowd outside the courthouse
McElhinny laid out what he said was chronological evidence
that showed Samsung copied Apple's designs. He also told the jury that, while
Apple brought many of its top executives to testify and face cross examination,
Samsung had presented no major decision makers.
"From the very beginning, Samsung has disrespected this
process," he said.
McElhinny said Samsung's internal documents compared its
products with Apple's - and determined it had a crisis of design.
Scores of journalists, lawyers, analysts and observers turned
out to watch the arguments. By 7:30 a.m. (1430 GMT) on Tuesday, the line
outside the courthouse was nearly a block long. The nine member jury spent over
two hours listening to granular legal instructions before Apple's McElhinny
began his presentation just after lunch.
McElhinny focused on a meeting between Samsung and Google
executives in February 2010, where Google asked Samsung to stop imitating the
iPad so closely.
"Samsung executives chose to ignore that demand and
continue on the path of copying," he said.
Apple said the products looked so similar that it led to
confusion in the marketplace.
Samsung's Verhoeven said Apple had not shown any evidence
that consumers were actually deceived into buying Samsung products instead of
the iPhone or iPad.
"Consumers make choices, not mistakes," he said.
Verhoeven also went on to tell the jury that Apple's damages claims were not
calculated correctly, calling them "ridiculous."
On rebuttal, Apple attorney Bill Lee said Apple was not
trying to keep Samsung out of the smartphone market. "All we're saying is,
'Make your own,'" Lee said.
The trial, which is in its fourth week, has revealed details
about the famously secretive maker of the iPhone and iPad, some substantive and
some just colorful.
Among the evidence were emails sent by Apple's Internet
services chief to top Apple executives, urging them to consider a smaller iPad
and indicating that Jobs was warming to the idea.
An Apple industrial designer described working around a
kitchen table with his team to come up with the company's mobile products.
Its patent licensing director also said Microsoft Corp was
one of the few companies to get a license for Apple design patents, but only
because Microsoft consented to an anti-cloning provision.
The case in US District Court, Northern District of
California, is Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, No. 11-1846.
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