SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Samsung fired back at Apple’s
accusations of patent theft Tuesday, saying the South Korean tech giant
didn’t write any of the Android software on its smartphones and tablets,
Google did.
"Not one of the accused features on this phone was
designed, much less copied, by anyone at Samsung," Samsung attorney
Peter Quinn said. "The accused features on this phone were developed
independently by some of the software engineers at Google, up the road
in Mountain View."
The finger-pointing took place in U.S. District
Court in San Jose, where Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. are
accusing each other of stealing ideas from each other. At stake: more
than $2 billion if Samsung loses, about $6 million if Apple loses.
On opening day, Google Inc. — which is not named in the litigation — was clearly a large part of it.
The trial marks the latest round in a long-running, worldwide series of lawsuits between Apple and
Samsung over mobile devices.
Quinn
told jurors that Apple’s gripe is with Android, a Google-developed
smartphone operating system that now makes up about 70 percent of the
global market.
Apple’s lawyer Harold McElhinny had anticipated the tactic.
"Don’t
be misled by that," he said in his opening statement. "This case is not
about Google. It is Samsung that has made the decision to copy these
features, it is Samsung, not Google, that chooses to put these features
into their phones, and it is Samsung that has made the decision to keep
on infringing on Apple’s patents."
Google declined to comment on the controversy.
The
trial’s first witness, Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of
worldwide marketing, said the relationship between the companies has
soured since Samsung launched the Galaxy smartphone.
"It appeared
that Samsung was going to be doing a lot of copying of our product. It
looked like an attempt to copy the iPhone," he said.
Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who died in 2011, was widely invoked throughout opening day.
Apple’s
McElhinny asked jurors to remember where they were on Jan. 9, 2007, and
he shared video of Jobs proudly unveiling the iPhone to cheering crowds
that day in San Francisco.
"Samsung went far beyond competitive intelligence and crossed into the dark side of intentionally
copying," McElhinny said.
Quinn countered that Apple is claiming overly broad rights to ideas.
"They
don’t own the only way to search on a phone, they don’t own the only
way to sync, they don’t own the only way to unlock with a swipe," he
said.
Consumers may end up paying the ultimate price in the case.
Experts say the litigation could lead to more expensive smartphones and
devices, and slow the overall pace of mobile innovation.
Rutgers
Law School professor Michael A. Carrier said the litigation is "a drain
on employees’ time and could lead to companies reinventing the wheel to
try to steer clear of patents."
Apple accuses Samsung of
infringing on five patents on newer devices, including Galaxy
smartphones and tablets. Specifically, Apple claims Samsung stole a
"tap-from-search" technology that allows someone searching for a
telephone number or address on the Web to tap on the results to call the
number or put the address into a map. In addition, Apple says Samsung
copied "slide to unlock," which allows users to swipe the face of their
smartphone to use it.
In a counterclaim, Samsung says Apple stole
two of its ideas and used them for iPhones and iPads, including a
wireless technology system that speeds up sending and receiving video.
Apple
is demanding that Samsung pay an average of $33 for each of the 37
million Samsung devices running software allegedly conceived by Apple,
and $40 per high-end device. The figure is well above other precedents,
but Apple’s legal team said it’s fair compensation for the losses.
"I’ll prove to you that is a gross, gross exaggeration, and an insult to your intelligence,"
Quinn told jurors.
Less
than two years ago, a federal jury in the same courthouse found that
Samsung was infringing on Apple patents. Samsung was ordered to pay
about $900 million but is appealing and has been allowed to continue
selling products using the technology.
Throughout three years of
litigation, Samsung’s global market share has grown. One of every three
smartphones sold last year was a Samsung, now the market leader. Apple,
with its typically higher priced iPhones, was second, with about 15
percent of the market.
The jury was selected Monday from a pool of
about 100 people, many of whom had opinions about the legal dispute
centered in the Silicon Valley and work for companies affiliated with
Samsung or Apple.
Two of the 10 jurors were excused Tuesday for health and financial reasons.
"I
have eight of you left, and you are each precious," said Judge Lucy
Koh, jokingly admonishing jurors to avoid bungee jumping and to eat
health supplements.
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Follow Martha Mendoza at https://twitter.com/mendozamartha . AP
Technology Writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this report.
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