Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Apple Loses Bid To Exclude Evidence In Samsung Patent Trial

Posted by Soulskill on from the don't-cloud-this-issue-with-facts dept.

New submitter Shavano writes with news that Apple's attempt to block Samsung from introducing evidence of a tablet prototype developed in 1994 has been denied by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh. Part of the reason Apple got a sales ban on Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 earlier this year was that an Appeals Court said Apple's tablet design was significantly different from earlier designs. Now, Judge Koh has decided that the issue needs to be decided by a jury. "Samsung has argued the design was an obvious variation of tablets existing as early as 1994, including one made by Hewlett-Packard Co. The Korean company supported that argument at the trial with videotaped testimony by Roger Fidler, who heads the digital publishing program at the University of Missouri. Fidler said he started working on a tablet design in 1981. Apple sought to exclude the testimony based on the appeals court ruling. In a written declaration, Fidler said 'Apple personnel were exposed to my tablet ideas and prototypes' in the mid- 1990s when the company collaborated with Knight-Ridder Inc.’s information design laboratory in Colorado."

6 of 227 comments (clear)

  1. First Poast by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Owned.

  2. It's like Palo Alto all over again... by TWX · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Xerox Alto anyone?

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  3. Re:When a judge is forced to... by In+hydraulis · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Bias aside, is Judge Koh competent to preside over this case?

  4. This old prototype by fustakrakich · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    It didn't happen to look like a Newton, did it?

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  5. Re:Can we just agree by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    When I hold my Tab next to my iPad, I see two devices that look as though they could be from the same product line. It's like I'm holding the 'iPad Widescreen" Even the bevelling around the edges is the same. I don't think you could count 20+ vague similarities on the PADD to the iPad, let alone get the dimensions on each of those details like what happened with Samsung.

    We're talking about design patents, here. This image doesn't do anything at all. The PADD doesn't even have a centered screen!

    --

    "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

  6. Re:Can we just agree by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    -1? Why?

    --

    "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)