Apple And Samsung To Discuss Requests In Court, Get Down On Friday

Apple's legal quarrel with Samsung over the Korean giant's supposed trademark infringement is getting legally escalated by week's end. Florian Mueller of Foss Patents revealed part of Apple's latest court filings in his blog:

"Apple will decide whether to file a motion for a preliminary injunction motion against Samsung's new products after completing its review of the five products that Samsung will produce on June 17, 2011."

Additionally, according to Mueller,

On that same day -- this coming Friday -- at 1:30 PM Pacific Time, Apple and Samsung will also meet with their judge at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to discuss Samsung's request for expedited discovery. The filings that became available last night were basically made in preparation of that showdown, at which the judge will probably decide on Samsung's request for an early look (of its lawyers) at next-generation iPad and iPhone samples.

So, by this weekend, we're likely to know a bit more about Apple's evolving relationship with its largest mobile parts supplier. Right now, neither party seems at all pleased with its counterpart, and Apple is using some strong language in its official responses to Samsung's formal request for legal permission to examine the iPad 3 and upcoming iPhone. Apple rightly calls itself the "master" of its infringement accusations and claims Samsung is an harassing "copyist" in the matter at hand. Really, there's no better way to share Apple's stance than to cite the phrasing of its own conclusion:

Samsung's Motion to Compel is an improper attempt to harass Apple by demanding production of extremely sensitive trade secrets that have no relevance to Apple's likelihood of success on its infringement claims or to a preliminary injunction motion. Apple made a compelling showing in its motion to expedite discovery that Apple needs samples of products that Samsung has already announced, distributed, and described, so that Apple can evaluate whether to file a preliminary injunction motion against those products, which look strikingly similar to the distinctive trade dress of Apple's current products. Samsung has made no such showing about Apple's future products. Therefore, Samsung's Motion to Compel should be denied.

Mueller also brings up an important point that almost certainly hasn't escaped Apple but may not have been obvious to those of us not professionally concerned with patent and trademark law:

Samsung stresses that it doesn't want to look at those products for what would (though Samsung doesn't use that terminology) amount to court-legalized industry espionage. Samsung would only request access for its outside counsel. That is the firm of Quinn Emanuel, a very reputable litigation firm -- but it's also the firm that represents a variety of Android device makers against Apple and other patent holders. So even if Samsung's corporate decision makers didn't get a look, that law firm might make use of any confidential information on future Apple products to develop infringement theories that companies like Samsung, Motorola or HTC could bring against Apple at a later stage.

All things considered, Apple seems to have quite the upper hand, here. And, if they do decide to file that preliminary injunction, it'll be interesting to see how the contractual obligations between the two juggernauts might be stressed or modified. Hopefully, though, none of this will cause any supply shortages for Apple and our beloved iDevices.

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