Apple and Samsung gear up for start of patent trial in US today

30 Jul 2012

Samsung and Apple are about to face each other in a California court today for a high-stakes patent trial that could last up to four weeks as the two tech titans come head to head over alleged intellectual property infringements on both sides.

If Samsung loses the US trial, the company could face a sales ban of its Galaxy smartphone and table range. Meanwhile, on the other side, Apple will be coming under the microscope for its patent litigation strategy across the globe.

The patents battle between Apple and Samsung has been heating up for more than a year now in various markets. It all started in 2011 when Apple announced it was going to sue Samsung, alleging that the company was copying the ‘trade dress’ of its iPhone and iPad products to create the Galaxy line of tablets and smartphones.

Apple filed a lawsuit in April 2011. Samsung then hit back a few days later, countering Apple’s lawsuit against it over smartphone patents, filing its own patent lawsuits against the consumer tech giant.

The 2011 case came just ahead of the launches of the Samsung Galaxy S II and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.

Just last week, Apple and Samsung faced each other in Germany’s Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court over patents. As a result, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1N survived the battle, but the company’s 7.7 model got a preliminary EU-wide ban.

The full trial is still to take place in Germany, where Apple is claiming that 15 of Samsung’s devices infringe on its patents, according to Foss Patents.

As for the start of today’s trial in the US, jury selection is set to start today. Reuters has reported the 10-person jury will be hearing evidence over four weeks.

Carmel Doyle was a long-time reporter with Silicon Republic

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