Judge denies Apple request for sanctions against Samsung over evidence leak

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh on Friday ruled against Apple's request to sanction Samsung for sending previously-excluded evidence to the media and warned further "theatrics or sideshows" would not be tolerated.

Before the Apple v. Samsung trial got underway on Friday, Judge Koh handed down her decision and brought jurors in one at a time asking each if they had seen or heard anything of the evidence leak.

According to CNet, most of the jury didn't know about the events which took place during court proceedings on Tuesday, though one juror did mention he read a headline regarding the "kitchen table" comments made during the testimony of Apple witness Christopher Stringer but hadn't read the story. The juror said he could remain impartial in light of the news piece.

The jury was again instructed to not read media accounts regarding the trial as slanted reports could foster impartiality. Bloomberg notes Judge Koh did, however, recognize the interest some jurors may have in outside reports, assuring them the Court was taking measures to keep them in the loop post-trial.

?We can scrapbook [the reports] for you, whatever you like," Judge Koh said. "Don?t feel like you?re missing out.?

Reports came out Tuesday of an email Samsung sent out to the media containing demonstrative slides with text of a deposition from former Apple designer Shin Nishibori regarding a "Sony style" iPhone after the Court ruled the evidence would be excluded from the proceedings. Along with the slide, Samsung issued a statement which asserted 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."

Samsung Evidence Leak


On Wednesday Apple countered with a request to punish Samsung's attorneys for what it called "egregious" misconduct meant to sway jury opinion. An official request for sanction was subsequently filed on Thursday asking the Court rule in favor of Apple's claim that Samsung infringes on iPhone patents.

In response, Samsung counsel John Quinn rebuked Apple's claims and said he was operating fully within the open trial guidelines set by the Court. The rebuttal to the proposed sanctions also filed on Thursday, said "Apple's request is an affront to the integrity of the jury." He went on to call Apple's proposed order "frivolous at every level."

While the out-of-court antics caused quite a kerfuffle, Judge Koh was also concerned that in-court filings were getting out of hand.

"Some of these objections are ridiculous, they're five paragraphs long," Judge Koh said. "If you're going to do that messy objection, you're going to do it in front of the jury, and the time clock is going to be ticking."

Before Friday's testimonies began, Judge Koh gave a final verbal warning to both parties saying the Court would not allow for grandstanding.

"I will not let any theatrics or sideshows distract us from what we're here to do, which is to fairly and timely decide this case," she said.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    scotty321scotty321 Posts: 313member


    Samsung better get their ass kicked all the way back to South Korea, those thieving criminals.

  • Reply 2 of 13
    popnfreshpopnfresh Posts: 139member
    scotty321 wrote: »
    Samsung better get their ass kicked all the way back to South Korea, those thieving criminals.

    Yeah, how DARE they make a tablet in the shape of a rectangle! Don't they know that Steve Jobs invented the rectangle?
  • Reply 3 of 13
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by popnfresh View Post

    Yeah, how DARE they make a tablet in the shape of a rectangle! Don't they know that Steve Jobs invented the rectangle?


     


    During the trial, you should add a sarcasm tag, because some trolls actually believe this stuff and you don't want to wind up down the wrong alley.

  • Reply 4 of 13
    galbigalbi Posts: 968member


    Excellent.

  • Reply 5 of 13
    quinneyquinney Posts: 2,528member


    The judge's warnings are not accomplishing anything, as far as I can tell.

  • Reply 6 of 13

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by quinney View Post


    The judge's warnings are not accomplishing anything, as far as I can tell.



     


    She's showing the high-paid attorneys who's boss in her courtroom.


    Otherwise, you end up with another show trial with the lawyers running things.

  • Reply 7 of 13


    The fandroids are curiously silent on this topic. Guess "Judge Koh is biased" got old?

  • Reply 8 of 13
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    popnfresh wrote: »
    scotty321 wrote: »
    Samsung better get their ass kicked all the way back to South Korea, those thieving criminals.

    Yeah, how DARE they make a tablet in the shape of a rectangle! Don't they know that Steve Jobs invented the rectangle?

    It's all prior art!

    1000
  • Reply 9 of 13
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post

    The fandroids are curiously silent on this topic. Guess "Judge Koh is biased" got old?


     


    If they're pulling out "Apple owns the rectangle" as late as yesterday, nothing is too old for those idiots.

  • Reply 10 of 13
    ssquirrelssquirrel Posts: 1,196member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


    The fandroids are curiously silent on this topic. Guess "Judge Koh is biased" got old?



     


    Yeah this comment thread is curiously quiet.  Saying no to Apple and being (God forbid!) reasonable in her response is just crazy talk.  I mean, CLEARLY, she's a mega Apple fangirl (/SARCASM)

  • Reply 11 of 13
    mcrsmcrs Posts: 172member


    Judge Koh is in a major pickle. As a Korean descent, if she sides with Samsung, she would be accused of being prejudicial. OTOH, when she agrees with Apple, some people will undoubtedly blame her as trying too hard to be impartial. If I were her, I would just resign and disqualify myself from this case, and I would let somebody else preside over. Life's just too short to be thrown into this type of situation. 


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SSquirrel View Post


     


    Yeah this comment thread is curiously quiet.  Saying no to Apple and being (God forbid!) reasonable in her response is just crazy talk.  I mean, CLEARLY, she's a mega Apple fangirl (/SARCASM)


  • Reply 12 of 13
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    mcrs wrote: »
    Judge Koh is in a major pickle. As a Korean descent, if she sides with Samsung, she would be accused of being prejudicial. OTOH, when she agrees with Apple, some people will undoubtedly blame her as trying too hard to be impartial. If I were her, I would just resign and disqualify myself from this case, and I would let somebody else preside over. Life's just too short to be thrown into this type of situation. 

    No one except a few lunatics on this forum say that she's biased because of her Korean ancestry. It's a non-issue in the real world.

    I was surprised that she didn't do anything - although perhaps she did take Samsung aside and tell them that they're on thin ice and to shape up.

    In the end, it probably won't matter. Samsung shows such an obvious disregard for the law (has anyone been sanctioned 4 times in the same trial before?) that they'll continue their egregious behavior and the next time it will probably be too much for Koh to ignore.
  • Reply 13 of 13
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    As I predicted, Samsung continues to break the court rules:
    http://www.fosspatents.com/2012/08/samsungs-lawyers-breached-rules-again.html

    "Samsung's lawyers just avoided being sanctioned for a controversial press statement (they merely got an earful from Judge Koh, who may look at their overall conduct again when the trial is over) but continue to annoy Judge Koh and to breach the rules of the #iCourt,"

    While this particular transgression doesn't appear to have caused any harm, what in the world makes their attorneys believe that the rules don't apply to them?
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