“If Google is the company that copied Apple’s technology — and in the case of Apple’s data detectors, it would seem they are — why is Apple suing Samsung?” Philip Elmer-DeWitt wonders for Fortune. “Samsung’s lawyers raised this question in their opening statement two weeks ago, and it’s an argument that could resonate for the jury. I took a crack at it in August 2012, right after the first Apple v. Samsung trial ended in Apple’s favor to the tune of $1 billion.”
In retrospect, [suing Samsung, not Google] was smart move. As Apple laid out its narrative for the jury in its closing arguments, the Samsung story was an easy one to tell. Not only had the Korean manufacturer imitated Apple’s designs down to the boxes the devices came in, but it left a paper trail that showed the company scrutinizing every aspect of the iPhone touchscreen for ways Apple’s design decisions could improve Samsung’s products. “The mountain of evidence presented during the trial,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told employees after the verdict, “showed that Samsung’s copying went far deeper than we knew.”
Whether Google left a similar paper trail remains to be seen. Moreover, Google can claim, as it did when it was sued by Oracle, that Android doesn’t produce any direct revenue for the company, so there can be zero damages. Android may generate billions of ad dollars, but that’s a harder story to sell a jury.
Full article here.
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