A second submission includes a March 2006 email from Richard Howarth, a senior member of Apple's industrial design team, to Jonathan Ive, Apple's head of industrial design, concerning prototypes for the iPhone.

The email discusses mock-ups of a cell phone being prepared by Apple designer Shin Nishibori that Howarth refers to as "the sony-style chappy."

Included with the email were photographs of what apparently were 3D models of an early iPhone prototype and a phone based on Nishibori's design.

"He's able to achieve a much smaller-looking product with a much nicer shape to have next to your ear and in your pocket" wrote Howarth of the Nishibori design when compared to Apple's prototype of the moment.

While Nishibori apparently looked to Sony for inspiration, it's important to note that the resulting designs and mock-ups included in the court filing did not look like any actual Sony phones of the time.