Apple adds army of Korean-speakers to legal team in Samsung patent war

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014


As part of its ongoing patent battle with Samsung, Apple has reportedly hired 73 contract attorneys and 20 reviewers of Korean-American descent to sift through the growing mountain of Korean-language documents provided by the Galaxy Tab maker.



It was revealed on Thursday that the 93 Korean-literate staff members are being contracted by two of the law firms Apple is using to fight its patent war against Samsung in the U.S., with the small army tasked with chewing through the untranslated documents provided by South Korean company, reports FOSS Patent's Florian Mueller.



Morrison & Foerster and WilmerHale both submitted documents to the ITC declaring that the Korean-speaking recruits have agreed to be bound to a protective order needed for the firms to share documents with the new hires.



WilmerHale, the firm tasked with defending Apple against Samsung patent attacks, filed the declarations of 72 Korean-American contract lawyers and 20 document reviewers that will allow them to take part in the litigation. In addition to cross-contracting six of the lawyers and two reviewers, Morrison & Forrester, which deals with Apple's patent assertions against the South Korean company, hired a separate Korean-American attorney.



Mueller notes that the newly hired lawyers may not necessarily have backgrounds in patent litigation, and suggests they were hired merely for their ability to read and speak Korean.



The move to take on the temporary staff stems in part from Apple's claim that Samsung has at times presented hundreds or even thousands of Korean language documents in an untimely manner.



The Cupertino, Calif. company alleges that some of the papers were received a day before deposition, and made it impossible for lawyers to analyze in preparation for testimony.



On Thursday, Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal ruled on an Apple motion which sought an additional deposition of Samsung witnesses who would testify on foreign language documents provided ten days prior to witness deposition, and english documents five days prior. Apple was granted part of its request, and is allowed a second deposition of up to ten witnesses as long as the depositions occur before the end of March.



Judge Grewal added that "the court strongly encourages Apple to extend the same opportunity to Samsung in those instances in which Apple has produced a substantial volume of documents shortly before, or after, a deposition."



[ View article on AppleInsider ]

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    mdriftmeyermdriftmeyer Posts: 7,503member
    Classy move there Samsung. Real classy.
  • Reply 2 of 20
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    In a similar move Samsung adds several Engrish speaking members to their legal team.
  • Reply 3 of 20
    banchobancho Posts: 1,517member
    In related news, Samsung has claimed a patent on Korean speaking lawyers and plans to sue Apple unless they agree to a license.
  • Reply 4 of 20
    In Korea, iPads are only for old people.
  • Reply 5 of 20
    galbigalbi Posts: 968member
    ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ



    ʇɐɥʇ pɐǝɹ uɐɔ noʎ ɟı ɹǝpuoʍ I



    <--- ɹǝqɯnu ʇunoɔ ʇsod ʎɯ ʇɐ ʞool
  • Reply 6 of 20
    ....okay?
  • Reply 7 of 20
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    ....승인?
  • Reply 8 of 20
    msimpsonmsimpson Posts: 452member
    Will the NY Times be investigating their working conditions?
  • Reply 9 of 20
    hmmhmm Posts: 3,405member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post


    Classy move there Samsung. Real classy.



    I hope you realize that you're just trolling a troll article. They were initially written in a different language. Samsung hired bi-lingual lawyers. I'm not sure what about this is newsworthy. Mueller is also speculating. He doesn't know one way or another so he just guesses.
  • Reply 10 of 20
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    In a similar move Samsung adds several Engrish speaking members to their legal team.



    Maybe they'll also hire some who can tell the difference between an iPad and a Galaxy Tab.
  • Reply 11 of 20
    tunetune Posts: 91member
    Maybe they'll hire someone to photoshop the difference in case they can.
  • Reply 12 of 20
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Galbi View Post


    ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ



    ʇɐɥʇ pɐǝɹ uɐɔ noʎ ɟı ɹǝpuoʍ I



    <--- ɹǝqɯnu ʇunoɔ ʇsod ʎɯ ʇɐ ʞool



    Damn my iPad turns it over ...
  • Reply 13 of 20
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    Maybe they'll also hire some who can tell the difference between an iPad and a Galaxy Tab.



    At ten feet, remember!
  • Reply 14 of 20
    Who writes this sensationalist stuff?

    "Army"

    "war"

    "battle"
  • Reply 15 of 20
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


    Who writes this sensationalist stuff?

    "Army"

    "war"

    "battle"



    "Grand Coalition"

    "Entente"

    "Axis Powers"



    This could get good if they start using the right terminology.
  • Reply 16 of 20
    As a Korean-American myself, this is a good thing to see. I can say for certain that a lot of Koreans and Korean-Americans despise Samsung and this family conglomerate's utter dominance of the Korean economy. The Samsung Group accounts for like 20% of South Korea's GDP dabbling in everything from ship construction to selling life insurance and from running hotel chains to providing financial services. The Chairman/CEO Lee Kun-Hee was convicted of tax evasion and conspiracy to hide this act and then got pardoned by the President because Samsung means so much to the Korean economy. It's pretty sickening.
  • Reply 17 of 20
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    Whether a patent has been broken is surely a question for technically literate people who are also lawyers. Why do they need to read anything except the patent, and look at the product in question?
  • Reply 18 of 20
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ascii View Post


    Whether a patent has been broken is surely a question for technically literate people who are also lawyers. Why do they need to read anything except the patent, and look at the product in question?



    There are a number of reasons including:



    - Some of the complaints are not simple patent complaints. Some of them are trade dress and theft of trade secret issues and internal documents are very important for those.



    - Even in patent cases, if you can show that someone knew about your patent and intentionally infringed it, damages are increased.



    - Many patent claims are difficult to prove and hard to explain to a layman. If the plaintiff gets communications from the other side that says "yes, we know there's a patent on this and don't know how to work around it, so maybe we should take our chances", that becomes pretty much a slam dunk. Of course, it's generally not worded in such an obvious way, but you'd be amazed what people put into internal documents.
  • Reply 19 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    Maybe they'll also hire some who can tell the difference between an iPad and a Galaxy Tab.



    This is far more relevant topic for Samsung to be worried about.
  • Reply 20 of 20
    haarhaar Posts: 563member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Galbi View Post


    ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ



    ʇɐɥʇ pɐǝɹ uɐɔ noʎ ɟı ɹǝpuoʍ I



    <--- ɹǝqɯnu ʇunoɔ ʇsod ʎɯ ʇɐ ʞool



    great idea! galbi, post all of your "gems of wisdom" backwards; perhaps that will twist your posts into shape...
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