The judge presiding over the legal battle between Samsung and Apple is said to be livid. One of Apple’s attorneys said that a Samsung attorney had issued a press release that aired evidence that was not allowed to be admitted by the judge at the patent infringement trial between the two tech giants.
John Quinn, one of the attorneys for Samsung said on Wednesday he did not issue the press release. He said he authorized a specific response to queries made by the press. News of his move was aired in London, where there is also another lawsuit taking place between the two companies. Quinn said he was within the law and his actions were ethical and consistent with the California Rules of Responsibility for all attorneys.
The judge has ruled with a firm hand over the trial and has on three occasions refused requests by Samsung to include into evidence a set of graphics. The slides have comments from a previous interview with Shin NIshibori an Apple designer who came up with a design for an iPhone by studying the design concepts of the Walkman by Sony. He said he had been commissioned by Apple’s industrial design head, Jonathan Ive to determine if Sony decided to make an iPhone what would it be designed like.
The evidence was produced by Samsung after there had been evidentiary hearings held to determine what documents would be included in the trial as evidence. Samsung feels the evidence is so important that its lead attorney, Quinn, stood up to speak to the court before being given permission from the judge and implored the court to admit the document since it was central to the case of Samsung. The judge promptly refused.
