Frustrated judge orders Apple, Samsung counsel to meet today

Judge Koh says she is "disappointed" in final jury-instruction discussions and orders attorneys to meet face to face.

Apple and Samsung are battling over the look and feel of their devices, as well as what the jury is told.

The federal judge presiding over the Apple-Samsung patent infringement trial has apparently grown weary of the quibbling attorneys in the case and has ordered them to meet in person today to hammer out joint jury instructions.
"The Court is disappointed by the parties' respective reports regarding their meet and confer efforts on final jury instructions," U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh said in her order today, according to the Foss Patents blog. "Lead trial counsel shall meet and confer in person today and file joint and disputed final jury instructions by Monday, August 13, 2012 at 8 a.m."
The order comes after the two companies reportedly accused each other of impeding the jury instruction process. Foss reports that an Apple filing late Friday claimed that "although [it] has tried diligently to advance the process, Samsung has stymied those efforts." Samsung reportedly responded by saying it had "agreed to more than twenty revised instructions proposed by Apple and is continuing to review Apple's remaining disputed instructions for any common ground," while Apple had "agreed to only two complete instructions drafted solely by Samsung."
Their disagreement over what the jury should be told when the companies rest their cases is just the latest courtroom row in the high-stakes trial. The two tech giants butted heads over destroyed evidence and whether the jury would hear disparaging comments the late Steve Jobs made about Android, the mobile operating system that powers Samsung devices. (Koh ultimately ruled that the jury would not hear the comments.)
Apple went so far as to ask the court to keep jurors from seeing the Samsung logo on video equipment in the court to avoid the impression among jurors that Samsung equipment and the company itself are somehow favored by the court.

Samsung Galaxy S3, S2 and Note getting Jelly Bean this year

Update estimates for what are literally Samsung's biggest phones have emerged, tipping the Galaxy S3 to get Android 4.1 Jelly Bean in several months, with the Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Note to follow in the winter.
While Samsung remains tight-lipped on the subject, SamMobile cites mysterious "insiders" who have spilled the beans regarding the latest version of Google's mobile operating system. The flagship of the Samsung fleet -- the Galaxy S3 -- is apparently nearly there, with software tests having been completed. The wait now is for the final version and approval from Google.
The Galaxy S2 is reportedly undergoing Jelly Bean testing, with Samsung apparently keen to get the latest software onto the former king of Android smart phones.
There are worrying whispers of a 'value pack' update for the Galaxy S2, which would bring some of the new features from Jelly Bean but not a full software upgrade, though so far it would seem there's no reason to think that'll happen. The Galaxy Note is apparently in the same situation, and is being tested at the moment.
According to the site, it's unclear whether the Galaxy Note 2, which Samsung recently confirmed will be shown off later this month, will land running Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean.
The rumour goes that the S3 will get Jelly Bean in late Q3 or early Q4, which means the end of September or the beginning of October. The S2 and Note are tentatively pegged for an update between October and December.
Samsung's muddled attempts at updating the Galaxy S2 to Android 4.0 proved to be a shambles and left phone owners fuming, so here's hoping the next round of major updates goes a little more smoothly.

Samsung Will Give You Up to $300 for Your Old Smartphone

Samsung is giving you another reason to choose its smartphones — a rebate of up to $300 for your old smartphone. The program, unveiled on the brand’s Facebook Page on Monday and on samsungupgrade.com, promises a refund within 30 days for anyone who buys a new Samsung smartphone and mails in their old one. A trade-in on an iPhone 4S 64GB in perfect condition will fetch you the full $300, but the rebates fall sharply from there. For instance, a 32GB version of the same model will only get you $230 and the 16GB version will get you $215.
However, such a rebate will essentially render a new top-of-the-line Samsung smartphone free or close to it: A Samsung Galaxy S III is $199 with a new contract and a Galaxy Note costs $249 with a new contract. The push comes as Samsung’s sales far outpace Apple’s on a global basis, but, like Microsoft, is viewed these days as an underdog against the Cupertino powerhouse. The Samsung-Apple skirmish isn’t just happening in the marketplace, though: The two are in the midst of a protracted courtroom battle over Samsung’s alleged theft of Apple’s mobile phone intellectual property.
In addition, both Apple and Samsung look to be planning big announcements over the next few weeks: Samsung has a mysterious event planned for Aug. 15 that appears to be related to its Galaxy Note devices. Apple, meanwhile, is reportedly planning to introduce a new iPhone model on Sept. 12.

Apple: Samsung even lifted our icons

Apple last year filed a patent suit and accused Samsung of ripping off the intellectual property behind the iPhone and iPad. Samsung countersued and alleged that Apple violated some of its patents.

Both suits are currently on trial.
Sure, people keep beating up on Apple's argument about the trade dress of the iPhone and iPad and say it's a frivolous argument about a rectangle.
But Apple's claims don't stop there. The company alleges that Samsung also snatched the ideas and work put into the graphics for those gadgets.

This is what Apple told the court about Samsung's alleged use of Apple's icons:

"Samsung is also infringing Apple's icon trademarks by advertising and selling a wide variety of products using confusingly similar icons...The icons on these products were intentionally designed to look like Apple's icons and infringe Apple's trademark rights."
Some of the Samsung devices that Apple says are equipped with stolen icons include Captivate; Continuum; Droid Charge; Epic 4G; Exhibit 4G; Fascinate; Galaxy Ace; Galaxy S (i9000); Galaxy S 4G; Galaxy S II (AT&T Edition, 4G); Galaxy S II (T-Mobile Edition); Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch; Galaxy S II Skyrocket (4G LTE); Galaxy S Showcase; Gem; Gravity Smart; Indulge; Infuse 4G; Mesmerize; and Vibrant.

 Samsung lawyers argue that the company's designers were only "inspired" by Apple's products but that their handsets are very different in important ways and that Samsung has a long history of innovation.

Apple design expert calls Samsung a copycat

On the witness stand for Apple, an industrial designer says that Samsung is clearly infringing on multiple patents with its phones and tablets.

Apple is once again turning to designers to help make its case that Samsung lifted its smartphone and tablet designs, this time going to a company outsider to prove its point.
In testimony today, Peter Bressler -- a former president of the Industrial Designers Society and the founder and board chair of product design firm Bresslergroup -- said numerous Samsung designs infringed on Apple's patented designs.
"My opinion (is) that there are a number of Samsung phones and two Samsung tablets that are substantially the same as the design in those (Apple) patents," Bressler said.
As a result, Bressler suggested that consumers could confuse one of Samsung's devices with Apple's.
To back that point up, Bressler, the inventor or co-inventor on about 70 patents, went through how nearly a dozen Samsung devices were similar to Apple's. That includes Samsung's first- and second-generation Galaxy S devices, as well as the company's Galaxy tablets.
Bressler also attempted to gut Samsung's prior art defense, which cites a Japanese design patent issued to rival electronics firm Sharp in 2005. That device, which Samsung suggests looks like the iPhone, is unlike the ones depicted in Apple's patents since it has a curved, non-flat front, Bressler argued.
It's not the first time these design claims have been laid out in the case, which pits the tech competitors and business partners at one another. However, it is perhaps the deepest inspection made during the trial so far of what exactly Apple's design patents cover. In his own words, Bressler said one of the key issues at stake is that industrial designers see things differently than what he said were "normal" people.
"Industrial designers are trained to pay attention to a lot of the little details that work together to form the overall impression that the usual consumer would view," he said. "So (consumers) may see those details, but they tend to be somewhat subconscious to the overall view."
Bressler is just one of several design specialists Apple is calling on to make its argument. Up after him, and also expected to testify, is Susan Kare, an early Apple employee and designer who may be best known for creating the original set of graphics on the Mac.
Earlier in the day, Samsung's top strategy officer, Justin Denison, was on the stand where he offered a sharply different interpretation, rebutting allegations that Samsung had "slavishly" copied Apple's own iPhones and iPads.
"I find it very offensive," Denison said. "At Samsung, we're very very proud of the products we produce, of all the hard work that goes into bringing those products to market."
"What we would like to be able to do is simply compete in the market, continue what we've been doing for the last 15 years in the market," he added.

This Internal Apple Email From 2011 Got The Attention Of Everyone In The Court Room Yesterday

The Apple-Samsung case picked up yesterday.
Of particular interest was an email exchange among Apple executives from January 24, 2011.
"This made up just a very small part of a cross-examination of Scott Forstall, Apple's head of iOS software at Apple, but it was enough to get the attention of just about everyone here."
The email written by Apple's head of Internet software/services Eddy Cue and was sent to Tim Cook, Forstall, and Apple's head of marketing Phil Schiller. It discussed a Gigaom article by Kevin Tofel, Why I Just Dumped the iPad (Hint: Size Matters).
In the article, Tofel says he spent 9 months with the iPad and sold it for a 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tablet.
Cue wrote, "I believe there will be a 7-inch market and we should do one...I expressed this to Steve several times since Thanksgiving and he seemed very receptive the last time.”
The email's contents are surprising because Steve Jobs was on record as saying a smaller tablet was a bad idea. During an earnings call in 2010, Jobs said that people just couldn't interact with smaller tablets the way they can with the bigger iPad.
Here's a copy of the 2011 emai:

Apple's Bid For Samsung Sanctions Denied By Patent Trial Judge

A federal judge on Friday denied Apple Inc.'s demands for an immediate victory in a multibillion-dollar patent trial. Apple sought the long-shot bid as punishment for Samsung Electronics Inc.'s decision to issue a controversial press release on the first day of testimony.
Samsung attorney John Quinn authorized the release Tuesday, which complained about Koh's exclusion of evidence favorable to Samsung. The release also included the evidence.
Apple sued Samsung last year alleging that some of the South Korean company's smartphones and computer tablets are illegal knockoffs of Apple's iPhone and iPad. Samsung denies the allegations and argues that all companies in the cutthroat phone industry mimic each other's successes without crossing the legal line.
Quinn had been arguing for weeks to allow the jury to see the disputed evidence that purports to show Apple's iPhone being influenced by Sony Corp. designs.
Quinn and the judge had a testy exchange over the evidence on Tuesday before opening statements started. Koh has rejected Quinn's argument on several occasions and grew exasperated with him when he refused to stop arguing the point.
"Mr. Quinn, don't make me sanction you, please," Koh said. "Sit down."
Quinn did take his seat. But hours later, a public relations firm sent out the press release that prompted Apple's demands for sanctions.
"The excluded evidence would have established beyond doubt that Samsung did not copy the iPhone design," the release to media stated. "Fundamental fairness requires that the jury decide the case based on all the evidence."
The release also contained website addresses to access the disputed evidence. Those addresses have since been disabled.
Apple claimed the release was designed to taint the jury. Quinn countered that Samsung has a right to release documents that are publicly available.
Koh said she reserves the right to investigate the matter further if new evidence comes to light.

Judge dismisses Apple's request to punish Samsung's attorneys over leaked evidence

Nearly half an hour before the jury even stepped into the room, tension was in the air.
Apple and Samsung were awaiting a decision on what U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh would do about a spat between the two companies stemming from excluded evidence Samsung sent out to press. Apple had drawn concern about the issue, saying it might taint the jury.
Koh put that to rest this morning. She dismissed Apple's request to punish Samsung's attorneys and instead brought jurors out one at a time, asking if they had heard any news about the trial, and re-affirming that they could be fair and impartial.
Most jurors told Koh they hadn't heard anything about it.
One male juror, however, noted that he had seen a headline pertaining to the testimony of Apple witness, Christopher Stringer, who appeared on the stand on Tuesday. The juror said that he had seen mention of the "kitchen table" details Stringer mentioned, but that he hadn't read the story. Koh then asked him if it kept him from being impartial, which he said it did not.
Koh said that the court would collect all the articles about the trial, and provide it to jurors after the case so that they could catch up.
Apple filed a lawsuit last year against Samsung Electronics Co. alleging that Samsung's smartphones and computer tablets are illegal knockoffs of iPhone and iPad products. Apple asked for $2.5 billion in damages, which if granted would be the largest patent related verdict to date. In response, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ordered Samsung to pull its Galaxy 10.1 computer tablet from the U.S. market pending the outcome of the trial in June.
Previously, Apple lawyers argued in opening arguments that Samsung "has copied the entire design and user experience" of Apple's iPhone and iPad. Samsung's lawyers pointed out that like many other companies, Apple had used similar technologies from other companies to satisfy consumer demands and shouldn't be pointing the finger at the South Korean company.
"Everyone is out there with that basic form factor," Samsung attorney Charles Verhoeven said. "There is nothing wrong with looking at what your competitors do and being inspired by them."
Before today's questioning began, Koh chided both sides, saying their filings had gotten out of hand -- particularly the objections.
"Some of these objections are ridiculous, they're five paragraphs long," 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."
Koh also warned both sides that any additional "theatrics or sideshows" would not be allowed.
"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.

Koh also ruled before court got underway that Samsung can use Apple consumer research surveys in its cross-examination of Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller. Apple had sought to keep the survey private, saying it was proprietary information that competitors could see and use to shape their own products.
The case picks back up today with the testimony of Schiller, who is Apple's second witness so far.

Samsung tries to get Apple to talk iPhone 5

With Apple's top marketing executive on the stand and under oath, Samsung's lawyers attempt to pry out information about Apple's next iPhone.

 There's been no shortage of once-confidential Apple information spilling out recently, ahead of the Apple v. Samsung patent trial here. But with the proceedings in full swing, today could have brought the biggest revelation of all.

During the cross-examination of Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller, Samsung's attorney tried to get the executive to talk about a product that hasn't been announced yet.
In an attempt to get Schiller talking about design, Samsung attorney William Price asked Schiller whether Apple's next iPhone model would look anything like existing versions, or if changes were in store.
Apple's legal team jumped up immediately, asking for U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh to overrule, saying that an answer would be divulging confidential information. After a brief pause, Koh said she would let Price ask the question.
 The courtroom went dead silent.
Schiller, looking nervous, sought confirmation from Price of what had just been asked of him. Then he said, "I prefer not to tell confidential information about future products."
Price didn't press for more.
Apple is expected to roll out a new version of the iPhone next month, per numerous rumors. That event is rumored to take place on September 12, by which time this trial will presumably be wrapped up.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus eludes sales ban...for now

As the Apple v. Samsung trial heats up, an appeals court has extended the delay on a sales ban on the Nexus smartphone.

Samsung's Galaxy Nexus

Consumers eyeing Samsung's Galaxy Nexus will continue to find the phone available for sale.
Samsung scored a minor victory this week by continuing to escape a ban on the popular smartphone, at least for the time being. On Monday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in favor of Samsung by extending the suspension of the preliminary injunction on the Nexus.
To recount the play-by-play action, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh had given the nod to Apple in June by granting its request for the temporary ban of the Nexus based on claims that the phone had infringed on several Apple patents.
Samsung appealed the ruling on July 1, but Judge Koh denied the request for a temporary lifting of the ban, while Apple posted a $95.6 million bond required for the ban. Such a bond covers losses to Samsung should the final ruling be found in its favor.
Samsung then went past Koh directly to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to plead its case. The appeals court granted a temporary stay on the Nexus ban. Monday's decision now extends that stay until August 20 when a hearing will take place so the court can make a final decision on Samsung's appeal.
"In practical terms, this means (as the order clarifies) that the temporary stay (a stay until the court has decided on the motion to stay the injunction for the entire duration of the appeal) remains in effect," Foss Patents' Florian Mueller said on Monday.
The court didn't indicate how long after the hearing it will make its decision. Mueller believes a motion will simply come whenever the court feels it has enough information and has given the matter enough thought.
Though Mueller considers the extension of the stay "moderately favorable to Samsung," the onus could easily be on the company to further prove its case.
'"Since the appeal can be adjudicated anytime after the August 20 hearing, it would make sense to just stay the injunction for the remainder of the appeals process given that a disruption of its sales is clearly more harmful to Samsung than an extended stay is to Apple," Mueller explained. "If the court needs more information to decide on the motion to stay, Samsung must make some more headway to prevail on its appeal."
Apple and Samsung are currently duking it out in Judge Koh's courtroom in San Jose, but that trial concerns a different case than the Nexus sales ban matter, according to Mueller. So any action or ruling in one shouldn't affect the other

 

Apple to jury: iPhone changed everything—then Samsung built knockoffs

Samsung's imitation wasn't flattering—it cost billions, Apple's lawyers say. 

It was a presentation that would have made Steve Jobs proud. Just as Jobs knew how to stun the public and the press with a shiny Apple new product, Apple lawyer Harold McElhinny was smooth and direct in his presentation. Using big bold slides, and a bit of video to show off the best features, he laid out a simple version of smartphone history that put his client at the center: Apple came first. Imitators like Samsung followed. And now it's time for them to pay up.
How did Samsung move from the phones it was making in 2006 to the sleek, large-screen smartphones it was selling in 2010, asked McElhinny? "To answer that question, we have to go back to January 9, 2007," he told the jury. "That's when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone at the Macworld conference."
McElhinny's monologue, a bit over an hour, was like a sleek Apple marketing pitch, with legal language seamlessly mixed in. The speech was the first building block of Apple's giant patent case against Samsung. The iconic Cupertino company wants more than $2.5 billion in damages from its Korean competitor, as well as injunctions that would kick Samsung's products off the market.
At times McElhinny waxed rhapsodic about his client, its innovative culture, and the products it produced.
"At the same time Mr. Jobs introduced the iPhone, he warned his competitors that he had filed for patent protection on more than 200 new inventions in the phone," he said. "Over 200 new inventions—let's think about what that means. It's about creating... a user experience so unique and intuitive that it just feels right."
Apple is a company that "always has its eye on the future," McElhinny continued: "What the world needed, and it didn't have, was a phone that had the capabilities of a computer. Apple designed an entirely new product—a phone, a web browser, and a music player. It was a phone design that the world had never seen. Physical keyboards would become a thing of the past. It required an entirely new hardware system, the Mac OS system. It required an entirely new user interface. That interface had to become completely intuitive.
Critics had hailed the iPhone, too, McElhinny said. Slides flashed by—The New York Times and Wired lavishing praise on the iPhone; Time Magazine calling it the 2007 Invention of the Year.
"What struck me about the iPhone was—there's no manual," said McElhinny. You had to walk into the store, pick it up, and get drawn in to use the device. If that didn't happen immediately—you'd never buy it."
Then McElhinny inveighed against Samsung, the accused copier.
"Apple's competitors immediately recognized the impact of the new device," said McElhinny. "Samsung was faced with a choice: it could come up with its own designs, and beat Apple fairly in the marketplace. Or it could copy Apple."
And copy Apple it did, he said; producing sleek black-faced phones with big screens, and using the same user-interface features that Apple had patented, like a "bounce back" feature for scrolling, and a method of navigating screens with a quick double tap. The story was told by Samsung's own internal documents, he said.
"At the highest corporate levels, Samsung decided to copy every element of the iphone," said McElhinny.
The press had noticed, too. "Samsung vibrant rips off iPhone 3G design," read one headline that was showed to the jury.
Next up in the Apple-approved history: the iPad. "Can you believe the iPad has only been around for two years?" said a briefly awed McElhinny, going on to call it "magical" and "revolutionary," echoing the bubbly headlines of 2010 and Apple's own marketing.
Quick videos demonstrated the features of each of Apple's three utility patents in the case. One was over the "rubber band" feature, where documents or images snap back into place when a finger pushes them off a touch-screen; another covered the idea of allowing a double-tap to navigate a screen without zooming out. The company alleges those popped up in Samsung phones shortly after being patented by Apple.
The jury should reject any suggestion that the user-interface features Apple designers cooked up are unimportant, warned McElhinny. The patented features are important so that customers could "intuitively" use the devices. "My four-year-old granddaughter taught herself to use an iPad," he said. "If these were trivial, why did they show up in your [Samsung's] customer surveys, and why did you copy them?"
McElhinny ended with a promise that the jury will see the story in Samsung's own documents. Those documents—acquired during painstaking discovery and translated into English—show more than 100 instances where Samsung altered its phones and tablets to achieve their goal of making them "identical to Apple products," he said.
The attorney accused Samsung of profiting enormously from its strategy. Samsung has made more than 22 million infringing phones, which have earned more than $2 billion in profit, according to Apple's calculations.

Samsung's defense: it's competition, not infringement

"Retangular screens, round corners, and minimalist design?" said Samsung's lawyer, Charles Verhoeven. "Apple didn't invent that."
Within a few minutes of his opening, Verhoeven was wheeling through slides of patent designs from Japan and Korea that reached back to 2006, 2005, even back to 2004—years before the iPhone was launched.
"This is the Korean '547 patent," said Verhoeven. "Again, you've got a large rectangular screen."
Apple's products may be successful, Verhoeven noted, but that doesn't mean the company was first to create these innovations—they're not true inventions. "There's a distinction between commercial success and inventing something."
Same story with the iPad. Verhoeven showed computer tablets with similar forms stretching back to a 1994 tablet called the "Fiddler."
"They didn't invent a large touchscreen with rounded corners," said Verhoeven. That had been made before—it's just that it had taken years for the market to demand such large screens.
"We're not saying it wasn't a great product," said Verhoeven. "It was inspiring to everyone, including the competition."
Cell phones evolved. "As functionality increased, the entire industry moved towards screens that are much, much larger," he said. "Nobody's going to want to watch a movie on a tiny little screen."
Verhoeven continued: "Is that infringement? No, the evidence is going to show, that's competition. It's providing the consumer what the consumer wants. In the consumer wants a phone with a large screen and touch face, Samsung provides that. It's not some johnny-come-lately developing knockoffs! It's creating technology that is what people want."
Samsung makes all kinds of phones. Phones that slide, "folder-type" flip phones, and "bar type" phones with big screens that look more similar to apple's products.
"Unlike Apple, that basically makes just one kind of phone, Samsung makes all kinds of phones for all kinds of people."
He also touted his client's history of innovation—a pioneer in the mobile business since 1991, Samsung employs more than 20,000 engineers, and has invested $35 billion in research and development just from 2005 to 2010, he said. The company is no "copyist," Verhoeven said. "Samsung is a major technology company, doing its own innovation."
The presentation was a sometimes choppy follow-up to McElhinny's smooth attack a few minutes before. Verhoeven read many slides directly and seemed to repeat his themes; a video had volume that jumped up and down wildly, and stopped playing at one point.

A stressful first day with a smaller jury

It wasn't just Samsung's strained presentation; the day had a stressful feeling from the start. The hallway was packed with dozens of reporters, lawyers, and observers, who filed into the court minutes before arguments began.
Stress was the first thing the judge wanted to talk about, in fact. One of the jurors was feeling stressed, to the point of having panic attacks, said U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh. The situation with her pay wasn't made clear by her boss, and she wanted off the jury. Koh checked that the parties had no objections, and then let her go, making turning the ten-person jury into a panel of nine.
Before opening arguments even started, stress turned into sparks, as a Samsung lawyer beseeched Koh to kick out one of Apple's slides, but Koh wasn't having it.
"Your Honor, i've been practicing 36 years, and I've never begged the court," said John Quinn, name partner at Quinn Emanuel, Samsung's law firm. "I'm begging the court now to hear this issue—"
"I've reviewed what you filed yesterday," said Koh, testily. "I heard argument on this yesterday. Mr. Quinn, please, we've had three reconsiderations on this."
"Can I ask the court for some explanation?" said Quinn.
"Mr. Quinn, don't make me sanction you, please. You've had two, if not three, if not four opportunities to brief this."
"Can I change the subject?" asked Quinn.
"No," said Koh. "I want you to sit down. Please."
Openings began shortly after that, and went past the lunch break. They were followed by the first witness, Apple designer Christopher Stringer, listed as an inventor on many of Apple's patents. Stringer, a lanky middle-aged man with shoulder-length gray hair and a goatee, didn't take the stand until almost 3:00. The iPhone was an "icon," he said simply, "the most beautiful of our designs."
He was even-keeled, but the designer didn't mince words.
"We've been ripped off, it's plain to see," he said. "By Samsung in particular."
After Stringer stepped down, Apple VP Philip Schiller took the stand for just a few minutes. The trial now takes a break until Friday, when Schiller will re-take the stand.

 

Apple vs Samsuing, Apple on the stand in Court

On the stand, an Apple designer Christopher Stringer recounts how the company takes a device from brainstorming to market, including sitting around a kitchen table.

A single button on one of Apple's phones or tablets might have gone through 50 or more iterations before ending up in the final design, one of the company's lead designers said today.
The first expert witness in the jury trial between Apple and Samsung here was Christopher Stringer, who has been an industrial designer at Apple since 1995 and helped design the iPhone along with other Apple products.
In his testimony, Stringer -- who donned an all-white suit to court -- said that the design process for any product typically began with lots of sketching, before heading off to a phase where it's refined with computer-aided drafting (CAD)
"We work together around a kitchen table," Stringer said. "We have our lives all around the products. In some ways it feels like a small company."
Apple is calling upon Stringer to discuss the beginnings of the design around the look and feel of the iPhone, which it claims Samsung copied. Stringer's name is on a number of the company's patents, including design patents Apple is using against Samsung in the case.
"We've been ripped off, it's plain to see. It's offensive," Stringer said of Samsung's accused devices. "It's a huge leap of imagination to come up with something new, that's something we did. By which you have to dismiss everything you know, forget everything you know, it can be difficult."
"If you pay attention to the competition, you end up following, and that's something we didn't want to do," he added.
Stringer referred to the design incubation ahead of both the iPhone and the iPad as "a long time," and in the iPhone's case, years even. During the testimony, Stringer outlined the way a product is formed within the company, from sketches to CAD then to 3D models which let the team refine various aspects of a design.
"We are a pretty maniacal group of people," Stringer said. "The size, the length, the width, the height -- every single detail is crafted." On the way there, Stringer said the design team's role is to "imagine objects that don't exist, and guide the process that brings them to life."
Before the testimony could begin, lawyers from both sides hashed out last-minute details about what exhibits could and could not be included in the testimony. That includes design elements from Apple patents on which Stringer was named.
Other tidbits gleaned from Stringer's testimony is that the company will go out of its way to throw off those that might see an early version of a design. That includes early renderings of the iPhone and iPad with the name iPod on the back.
"We wanted to see something graphically on the back, or we were trying to disguise its iPhone identity," Stringer said.
Stringer's testimony is the first of many to come as part of the trial between the two tech giants, which is expected to run into late-August. Earlier today both companies presented their opening statements.

Apple vs. Samsung: Every Patent Tells a Story

Apple and Samsung have won battles against one another in the marketplace and in courtrooms but so far, there's been no declared winner in their war. The patent front expands on Monday with $2.2525 billion at stake in a case set to take place in a San Jose, California., federal court.

While tablets and slab phones are certainly nothing new, it's nevertheless come down to a question of design between Samsung and Apple. Apple claims the cluster of Galaxy devices—including the Tab and the Nexus—are too similar in look and feel to the iPad and iPhone, respectively. As a result, the company says it has lost around $500 million in profits, with sales of Samsung phones overtaking iPhone sales worldwide.
The companies have taken their campaigns from courtroom to courtroom and country to country, with cases currently pending in the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands. Earlier this month, Apple was ordered to post a notice on the U.K. version of its website declaring that Samsung did not copy the iPad's design. Judge Colin Birss' reassuring words to Samsung in the case didn't come without some sting, though. Behind the decision was Birss' assertion that Samsung's Galaxy tablets are "not as cool" as the iPad. (As for who gave birth to the cool, well, that's something Apple might face competition on, too.)

A flurry of patent filings and other proof-of-design claims will be brought forth in this latest case. Here are some of the ones that will be (and others that should).

Apple Patent 889

The broadest-seeming of Apple's design patents, Apple Patent 889 seems to stakes a claim to any device that's a rectangle with rounded corners. 

Apple Patent 087

The design patent for the iPhone, Apple Patent 087, states that it is for "[t]he ornamental design of an electronic device. Like the iPhone itself, the description is minimalist. 

Apple Patent 790

The familiar Chiclet-shaped app layout is sketched out in Apple Patent 790, the "ornamental design for a graphical user interface for a display screen or portion thereof." 

Samsung's 11.8-inch 'retina' tablet, WP8 phones revealed

Three upcoming Samsung gadgets have been revealed, including an 11.8-inch tablet with a 'retina' resolution and two new Windows Phone mobiles.
Details of all three devices came to light in court documents that were made public during Samsung's ongoing spat with Apple -- a legal fracas that also revealed the look of early iPhone prototypes.
The Verge spotted the tablet, which along with its hand-stretching 11.8-inch screen, is destined to sport a 2,560x1,600 pixel resolution that would trump the new iPad's 2,048x1,536 retina display.
The tablet bears the codename 'P10' and will have LTE connectivity on board, but apart from that nothing else is known. The court documents seemingly peg the P10 as being a '2012' device, so we could catch a glimpse before this fine Olympic year draws to a close and we are hurled into the perpetually unlucky 2013.
It sounds exciting, and hopefully could offer a little more than the disappointing Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (pictured above), which was too pricey and not very powerful.
Meanwhile two Windows Phone gadgets, nicknamed Odyssey and Marco have also been spied by the Verge. Both are powered by 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm processors, meaning they'll be powered by Windows Phone 8, as the existing software doesn't support multi-core chips.
The Odyssey has a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED screen with a high-def resolution and an 8-megapixel snapper, while the Marco will have a 4-inch, 800x480 pixel Super AMOLED screen and a 5-megapixel camera. Both phones look to be LTE enabled, meaning that unless there are separate versions for the US and Europe, we may not see them in the UK just yet.
I think Nokia has created the most impressive Windows Phone gadgets to date, with Samsung's Omnia 7 and new-but-basically-identical Omnia M failing to smoke my tyres. If Samsung can sprinkle some of the magic Galaxy S3 dust on a Windows Phone mobile though, Microsoft's platform could be given the jump-start it badly needs.

Samsung Galaxy S3 loses local search after 'stability' update

The latest update, earmarked to improve "stability," could in fact be considered a downgrade of the smartphone model.

Samsung is rolling out an update for its Galaxy S III smartphone that disables on-device search functionality.
According to Android Central, the over-the-air upgrade currently rolling out is described as a "stability" update and, although it brings system improvements, it also strips out the local search functionality from the device's inbuilt Google Search app.
Consequently, when S III owners conduct a web search on their smartphone, results generated from content stored locally on the device -- such as contacts -- will not be included.
Local search is reported to have been disabled on some U.S. S III devices, as well as on the unlocked international model.
The change is thought to be the result of the continuing patent spat between the South Korean company and Apple.
While Apple owns a patent that covers local searches, it has not been cited in the current legal battle. Samsung could well have just decided to go for the lesser of two evils -- limiting the functionality of the smartphone rather than face more legal wrangling over patents.

Samsung's 'surprise' on 15 August!

Stand by for a new Samsung Galaxy... something. Samsung has notified US press that it will make a 'major announcement' on 15 August. Will it be the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, or something else?
A follow-up to the popular Samsung Galaxy Note tablet is hotly anticipated. A new version of the 5-inch over sized phone / mini-tablet / 'phablet' is expected to have a bigger screen, and could be powered by Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
Come to think of it, if Samsung were to announce dates for all Samsung Galaxy devices that would be pretty cool.
Another possibility is a new Galaxy Tab tablet. As long as the new device doesn't incorporate any of the technology disputed by Apple in the patent war currently raging between the two companies in courtrooms around the world, that is.
Of course, it could also be something dull, like a new app or cloud service or partnership deal or something.
The Note was expected to be unveiled at the end of August at IFA, the annual technology blow-out wherein manufacturers descend on Berlin to unveil their wares for the rest of the year.
Whatever the folks at Samsung reveal, they'll no doubt have their fingers crossed for another smash hit like the Note or the Samsung Galaxy S3. The S3 has already sold 10 million phones in just a few weeks on sale. Hey, maybe the announcement will be those new colors for the S3 we've been promised!