Apple asks court to punish Samsung for releasing documents in iPhone suit

01.08.2012
Apple will ask a federal court to sanction Samsung Electronics for releasing documents that were not allowed as evidence in the companies' patent-infringement suits.

In a to Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Apple said it would file an emergency motion on Wednesday seeking "sanctions and other relief that may be appropriate" after Samsung's legal team gave some reporters exhibits that had been excluded from the trial. A Samsung statement that was sent with those exhibits shows that the South Korean manufacturer wanted to use the documents to influence jurors, Apple wrote.

"This deliberate attempt to influence the trial with inadmissible evidence is both improper and unethical," Apple wrote.

Apple sued Samsung in April 2011, charging that the company deliberately copied the iPhone and iPad in its smartphones and tablets, violating Apple patents on both designs and functions. Apple seeks US$2.525 billion in damages. Samsung countersued, saying Apple infringed some of its patents. The cases have been consolidated, and the companies to a jury on Tuesday.

Apple and Samsung have been fighting over what evidence would be allowed in the trial for weeks. The exhibits that Samsung distributed include images meant to establish that Samsung developed a phone with several elements of the iPhone's design before the iPhone was introduced in January 2007. They also include documents concerning Apple's alleged use of a prototype inspired by Sony designs in determining the design of the iPhone.

Koh did not allow Samsung to show jurors those documents, but the company did distribute the exhibits to some media outlets along with an explanatory statement.