Apple claims $ 2.5 billion from Samsung, accusing it of patent infringement. The trial began with the selection of the juries. What are the challenges of the trial?
AFPThe selection of a panel of 10 days began with a group of 70 people gathered in the courtroom where they had to answer questions seeking to determine if they had relatives working for Apple, Samsung, for the internet group Google or for its subsidiary Motorola.
Google is not directly involved in the file but its Android operating system is used on Samsung devices and will be prominently included in the file.
Asked what they knew about the case, several potential jurors admitted that they had read the biography of Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple dcd last year, in which he describes Android as theft product.
Before the hearing began, dozens of people were lining up outside the court to attend a long-awaited trial.
Apple claims $ 2.5 billion from Samsung, accusing it of patent infringement. The South Coren counter-attacked, accusing the firm the apple of having infringed its own patents.
This is one of the most important intellectual property disputes currently facing the technology sector, including tablets and multi-function cell phones.
If the result of similar lawsuits has been mixed in Europe and Australia, Samsung is clearly on the defensive in the United States, where Apple wants to reign supreme.
Judge Lucy Koh, who presides over the court, has already issued two injunctions requesting the temporary suspension of sales in the United States of the Samsung Galaxy 10 inch (25 cm) tablet and the Nexus multifunction telephone designed by Google.
Samsung big risk
In addition, the magistrate ruled last week that Samsung had destroyed key evidence by allowing the destruction of emails after being informed of Apple's complaint.
Among the rare good news for Samsung, an American court of appeal lifted the ban on the sale of the Nexus phone during the course of the trial.
R. Polk Wagner, a professor of patent law at the University of Pennsylvania, says this is one of the most important patent trials since the 1980s conflict between the two gloves of the time, Polaroid and Kodak.
I think this is the first of many lawsuits relating to smartphone technology, with significant financial consequences for the two interested groups and the entire sector, he said AFP.
You have to see what will be the impact if Apple wins. It is relatively easy to develop (programs) from these patents. So even if Samsung loses a few rounds, it can still manage to make its phones, he says.
But the South Coren could face big risks: if Apple wins, the Californian could also win a permanent injunction banning the sale of Samsung devices in the United States.
And if Samsung makes only slight changes, Apple could have it condemned for contempt of court decision with the key to a heavy fine.
An investigation by the IDC specialist firm indicates that Samsung shipped 50.2 million multifunction phones between April and June while Apple sold 26 million of its iPhone. IDC assigns Samsung 32.6% of the market while Apple has 16.9%.
Samsung is the leading manufacturer of phones using the Android system, which has become the most widely used in the world despite other Apple complaints against Google, also accusing it of patent infringement.
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