JURY selection is scheduled to begin on Monday morning in a
high stakes patent battle between Apple and Samsung Electronics, the
culmination of over a year of pretrial jousting with billions of dollars in the
balance.
Apple and Samsung, the world’s largest consumer electronics
corporations, are waging legal war around the world, accusing each other of
patent violations as they vie for supremacy in a fast-growing market for mobile
devices.
The fight began last year when Apple sued Samsung in a San
Jose, California federal court, accusing the South Korean company of slavishly
copying the iPhone and iPad. Samsung countersued.
The stakes are high, with Samsung facing potential US sales
bans of its Galaxy smartphones and tablet computers, and Apple in a pivotal
test of its worldwide patent litigation strategy.
Apple will try to use Samsung documents to show its rival
knowingly violated the iPhone maker’s intellectual property rights, while
Samsung argues Apple is trying to stifle competition to maintain “exorbitant”
profit, according to court filings.
A 10-member jury will hear evidence over at least four
weeks, and it must reach a unanimous decision for Apple or Samsung to prevail
on any of their claims.
That the jurors will hail from Silicon Valley, where Apple
is an icon and major employer, will be something for Samsung to consider during
the jury selection, said James Dobson, a jury consultant with Empirical
Creative.
“Although certainly if I were Samsung I would be concerned
about what prospective jurors think about Apple, given that it’s a huge
employer there,” Dobson said, “by and large jurors want to do right thing and
decide the case on the merits.”
It has been tough going so far for Samsung in the case. US
District Judge Lucy Koh halted US sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, giving Apple a
significant early win. This was followed by a pretrial ban on the Galaxy Nexus
phone. Samsung has appealed both orders.
The trial is expected to last at least four weeks.
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