“Jurors in Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s patent trial against Samsung Electronics Co. include a man who filed for his own technology patents, a woman who worked for a semiconductor company, and an aspiring software engineer,” Joel Rosenblatt reports for Bloomberg. “While the interests and professional backgrounds of those jurors reflect the Silicon Valley pool from which the panel was drawn, another juror didn’t go to college and works in construction.”
“A Google Inc. engineer who Apple fought to get removed early in the selection process over the objections of U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, was eliminated in the final cut,” Rosenblatt reports. “The jury of seven men and three women, who are scheduled to hear opening arguments in the global smartphone dispute tomorrow morning, was selected today after Koh thinned the pool with questions screening for any bias that might prevent them being impartial in the case.”
Rosenblatt reports, “Koh twice rejected a request by William Lee, a lawyer for Apple, to dismiss ‘for cause’ the Google engineer who said he owns shares in his company. The engineer said he started at Google before it bought YouTube, working on user interface layouts. He said he had worked on the company’s AdWords program, maps and a version of the company’s Android operating system called Jelly Bean. He said he assisted in some capacity with patents covering some of those technologies. ‘His credibility, as far as I’m concerned, I believe it when he says he can be fair and impartial,’ Koh said, noting that the juror said his family owns many Apple products. ‘For right now he’s been solid that he can be fair and impartial, so he’s staying on,’ Koh said. The engineer was later dismissed from the jury after lawyers for both sides conferred with each other.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Koh’s fight to keep a Google engineer in the jury pool — who holds Google shares and who worked on Android — is worrisome, to say the least, regardless of how “many Apple products” his “family” owns. Let’s hope Koh’s decision-making abilities improve drastically and immediately. Sheesh.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Arline M.” for the heads up.]
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California:
All eyes are on you… you better keep that in mind. For you to think that a Google engineer is impartial to this case is ridiculous to say the least. It makes everyone feel like you aren’t fair and impartial, Lucy. Don’t be a prick… let justice win for once.
The lawyers from both sides conferred before dismissing him? What did we (Apple) give up in return?
Probably relented on one of their objections to a Samsung favored juror.
Or Apple explained that the reliability of court’s decision will be in question if Google’s employee will be in the jury even if Samsung would win. No Google guy is better for Samsung’s PR, too.
Tim Cook should be on the jury!
Apple probably pointed out to Samsung that the potential juror might have had an involvement in some matters of copying software before the court. 😉
Google prefers to be a background actor…Apple could direct the focus to Google and alienate the entire jury if he stayed, cause Google is evil all around.
But: “At the end of the day, Apple had to use one of its four preemptory challenges to have the Google guy removed.”
Evil Goles are everywhere…
Is the trial televised or streamed in some way?
lol I wish!
I’m guessing Apple traded Ives and a future first round draft pick. Big loss, but at least it will put them under the salary cap.
This whole jury trial model is fatally flawed in such a case.
What you would need to find are jurors that don’t own computers and smart phones.
Otherwise you will find everyone on either side of this issue.
Apple probably just said “Cult of Mac”, Samsung did say “The Cult of Mac” has powerful influence on people. Then dumped the guy like he was radioactive! 😉
Isn’t anybody concerned that Lucy Koh and Samsung are both of Korean descent?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_H._Koh
No. Should Jews be prevented from sitting on juries where the defendant is Jewish? Very unamerican
Or being the judge
This wreaks of jury tampering. judicial bias and general BS. Koh should recuse herself.