Samsung claims on jury foreman misconduct in Apple case revealed

We learn more about why Samsung believes a juror in the California Apple Vs. Samsung trial is tainted.

New details have emerged about Samsung’s claims of juror misconduct in the recent trial with Apple. It seems that the jury foreman, Velvin Hogan, failed to disclose a lawsuit and a personal bankruptcy when he was questioned during jury selection. The experienced electrical engineer spoke about a trial with a former employee of his over software ownership and he mentioned a patent he holds related to “video compression software”. What he didn’t mention was being sued by former employer, Seagate Technology Inc. and filing for bankruptcy in 1993.

Seagate and Samsung have a “strategic alignment” that means Seagate drives are used in Samsung laptops and Samsung semi-conductors go into Seagate SSDs. As part of the deal, Samsung actually sold its HDD business to Seagate in 2011. Samsung said in its filing, “Mr. Hogan’s failure to disclose the Seagate suit raises issues of bias that Samsung should have been allowed to explore in questioning.”

According to Bloomberg, Hogan explained in a phone interview yesterday that there was no misconduct. He says jurors were instructed to disclose litigation from the last ten years and the Seagate case and bankruptcy were outside that time limit. There isn’t actually any mention of a ten year limit in the transcript. Hogan also pointed out that one of Samsung’s lawyers is married to the lawyer who filed against him at Seagate, so how could Samsung not have known about this? Hogan wonders if Samsung “let me in the jury just to have an excuse for a new trial if it didn’t go in their favor.”

We asked Stanley M. Gibson, an experienced technology and IP trial lawyer at Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Mitchell, about this issue previously and he told us, “An argument regarding juror misconduct will be hard to win.”

It’s no surprise that Samsung is determined to challenge the verdict which resulted in a $1.05 billion verdict for Apple. We reported on developments between the two electronics giants since the California jury returned a victorious verdict for Apple. While the Cupertino company seeks more damages and sales bans, Samsung has been pushing for a mistrial. We also saw Samsung add the iPhone 5 to another patent infringement suit it is bringing against Apple. That one concerns infringement of eight patents and Samsung is pushing for sales bans on several Apple devices.

The patent war rages on.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Court drama: Apple wants more money, Samsung says trial was unfair

The courtroom battle between Samsung and Apple continues as Apple seeks $707 million more and a Galaxy S3 ban while Samsung alleges juror misconduct.

The continuing saga of the Apple vs Samsung patent war is far from over. In the aftermath of the California trial which ended with a verdict awarding $1.05 billion to Apple, there have been various filings and motions from each of the combatants. It seems neither side was entirely satisfied with the jury’s verdict.

Apple wants more money

Apple filed a motion late on Friday, as reported by Reuters, asking for an additional $707 million on top of the $1.05 billion already awarded. It wants $400 million in damages for design infringement, $135 million for willful infringement of its utility patents, $121 million in supplemental damages, and $50 million of prejudgment interest on damages to see it through until December (we’re not sure where the extra $1 million comes in).

…and a sales ban

The Cupertino company is also seeking a court order for a permanent U.S. sales ban on all of Samsung’s infringing products. It wants the injunction to cover “any of the infringing products or any other product with a feature or features not more than colorably different from any of the infringing feature or features in any of the Infringing Products.”

Most likely it is hoping to extend the ban to cover Samsung’s Android flagship, the Galaxy S3.

But the judge may not grant any additional damage. Stanley M. Gibson, an experienced technology and IP trial lawyer at Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Mitchell, told us: “In terms of the Apple motions, the judge will have to look at those on a product by product basis and given the large verdict already it may be difficult to convince her to award enhanced damages… the more interesting and impactful part of the case will be whether she uses a permanent injunction and how the language of such an injunction is framed if one issues.”

Samsung wants a new trial

Samsung’s lawyers have also been hard at work filing for a mistrial due to juror misconduct. The allegations of juror misconduct focus on the jury foreman Velvin Hogan and his prior knowledge of patent law as a video recording patent holder. In an interview with CNET after the trial juror Manuel Ilagan said of Hogan, “He had experience. He owned patents himself…so he took us through his experience. After that it was easier.”

Hogan also appeared on Bloomberg TV and said of the jury, “Some were not sure of how prior art could either render a patent acceptable or whether it could invalidate it. What we did is we started talking about one… (I) laid it out for them.”

The jury should rely solely on evidence presented during the trial so Samsung will argue that Hogan could have affected the verdict because of his prior knowledge.

In addition to the juror misconduct claim Samsung is not happy about the time constraints applied by Judge Koh. It said, “The Court’s constraints on trial time, witnesses and exhibits were unprecedented for a patent case of this complexity and magnitude, and prevented Samsung from presenting a full and fair case in response to Apple’s many claims.”

Chances of success with this approach are not good for Samsung. According to Stanley M. Gibson, “An argument regarding juror misconduct will be hard to win.  It also is not likely that the judge will reconsider her prior limitations on time and judges have wide discretion on these issues.”

The fight goes on

The two companies will meet again in the U.S. in a December hearing where Apple’s motion to get Samsung devices banned will be heard.

They are also engaged in various court battles around the world. Apple lost a case against Samsung and Motorola in Germany earlier this week that focused on its multi-touch patents. There was also a win for Samsung in Tokyo at the end of last month.

Anyone who thought the California verdict was decisive can think again because this one looks set to run on and on.

Meanwhile, the battle for your cash continues as the Samsung Galaxy S3 looks to build on the 20 million sales in its first 100 days after release and Apple announces a record-breaking 5 million iPhone 5 units sold in just three days.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com