The trial between Samsung and Apple that has been in the news for the last couple of weeks seems to be drawing to an end as Apple rests is case, putting the ball into Samsung’s court to maintain its defense. Once Apple closed its case, Samsung attorneys had asked the Judge to dismiss the case on grounds that Apple had not provided sufficient evidence to prove its claim. This was struck down and the judge said that Apple has done enough to show patent infringement on Samsung’s part. However, Samsung did have a small victory as the international versions of its Galaxy S and SII phones were removed from the US trial. Apple can go on to file its infringement suits against those models in the Korean patent war.
Now, the court is open to Samsung and its witnesses as it aims to prove that it didn’t infringe on Apple’s patents and even go the extra mile to try and show that there were some patents that Apple shouldn’t have been awarded at all. Among the first expert witnesses from Samsung is going to be Ben Benderson who was the developer of LaunchTie, the application that allowed using a smartphone with a single hand with the help of zooming and was meant to be used on devices like the iPaq. In this case, Samsung is trying to prove that Apple shouldn’t have the patent owing to prior art and this will help Samsung as it can no longer be held liable for infringement.
With the help of another witness, Samsung is trying to prove that Apple shouldn’t be filing for infringement on the zooming aspect of the screen as it had been given a demonstration of how a capacitive touchscreen can be used with one hand but requires two to zoom. This was done by a Mitsubushi employee called Adam Bogue who testified that Apple had known about the technique. In addition, an application called Fractal Touch that had the capability of what is now known as multi touch was demonstrated. If Samsung is convincing enough in its argument, this can go down in its favor as it would prove that Apple doesn’t really deserve the patent in that department.
There is a lot at stake with this trial as each company claims to be the more innovative one. Financially, an Apple accountant estimated that the company would have lost between $2.5 and $2.75 billion because of Samsung’s infringements.
