Apple likens Samsung discovery request to “harassment”

Matthew Ismael Ruiz  By on 15 Jun 11

Apple has responded to Samsung’s request from this May to see commercial versions of the upcoming (but still unannounced) iPhone and iPad.

Equating the request for expedited discovery to “harassment,” Apple filed a motion in the District Court for the Northern District of California asking the judge to deny Samsung’s request.

Apple first filed suit against Samsung in April, accusing them of copying the designs of the iPad and the iPhone. Samsung fired back with patent infringement lawsuits in South Korea, Japan and Germay. Then a US District Court judge granted Apple’s request for “expedited discovery” of evidence in the case; namely, turning over Samsung’s yet-to-be-released Galaxy S2, Infuse 4G LTE and Galaxy Tabs 8.9 and 10.1. Samsung predictably filed reciprocal expedited discovery requests, asking the court to order Apple to produce samples of the “final commercial version” of the new iPhone and iPad.

Samsung says that the devices Apple claims infringe on their patents will likely be on the market at the same time as Apple’s upcoming products. In order to identify any possible similarities between the company’s products, Samsung says they need expedited discovery to evaluate potential future legal action from Apple.

The difference between Apple and Samsung’s discovery requests lies in the fact that all but one of the Samsung devices (Galaxy Tab 8.9) in question have been announced, and some have even been released for review. Apple has yet to release any information about their next generation of devices.

As the legal game of monkey-see, monkey-do continues to escalate, it will be interesting to see how Samsung and Apple’s relationship changes, if at all. While they have long been competitors in the mobile space, Samsung also provides many of the components for Apple products.

Photo: The Register

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  • Anonymous

    Harassment? Apple made the same request to them first, if anything Apple is harassing them.

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