Legal

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Testimony from Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, was cut short today, but not before the executive made claims that the company did not rely on market research.

"We don't use any customer surveys, focus groups, or typical things of that nature," Schiller said. "That plays no role in the creation of the products."

The claims come on the heels of court filings unearthed earlier this month that show Apple's internal market research from May of last year. That study focused on iPhone owners, asking them … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A single button on one of Apple's phones or tablets might have gone through 50 or more iterations before ending up in the final design, one of the company's lead designers said today.

The first expert witness in the jury trial between Apple and Samsung here was Christopher Stringer, who has been an industrial designer at Apple since 1995 and helped design the iPhone along with other Apple products.

In his testimony, Stringer -- who donned an all-white suit to court -- said that the design process for any product typically began with lots … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Samsung argued in court today that any similarities between its products and Apple's are just the result of doing business in the electronics industry.

"We're not standing here telling you ladies and gentleman of the jury that the iPhone wasn't commercially successful. It was an inspiring product to everyone, including the competition," Samsung's lawyer Charlie Verhoeven said. "But being inspired by a product and seeking to make better products is competition."

"It's not copying," he said.

Samsung's legal team proceeded to go into detail … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Apple began day two of the trial between it and Samsung with opening statements depicting it as an underdog that came into the phone industry and changed the game.

Harold McElhinny, a partner at Morrison Foerster representing Apple, kicked off the case by saying the company had bet the farm on the iPhone in 2007, and competitors (though particularly Samsung) proceeded to copy it, leading to big profits and lost sales on Apple's part.

"Apple had absolutely no name in the field, no credibility. (The iPhone) was an entry that had it gone bad, … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif.--The first day of the patent infringement trial between Apple and Samsung wrapped up with a jury in hand.

After whittling down a pool of prospective jurors, the court now has its 10, which will hear testimony and decide the case.

On the way to that selection, potential jurors were asked myriad questions ranging from what gadgets they owned to whether they worked for either company. Such a question was an important one given where the trial is taking place. The U.S. District Court here in San Jose is just a few miles away from Apple'… Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif.--"This will be a very interesting case," U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh told prospective jurors today, the first day of a trial between Apple and Samsung in a federal court here.

It's safe to say that's an understatement. While the trial, which is expected to run about a month, focuses mainly on patent infringement, it's at the center of a battle between two tech giants who hope to gain more of a foothold in the mobile device market and the electronics world at large.

The two sides are scheduled to … Read more

Ever wondered what the thought process must have been like for Apple's designers in coming up with the early iterations of the iPhone and iPad? Or if there were any crazy versions that never made it to the shelf?

Now, thanks to the Apple vs. Samsung patent court case, you can take a look at some of the early sketches and prototypes of these devices by way of public court documents.

According to Ina Fried at All Things D, Apple filed several documents Saturday that include dozens of hand-drawn and computer-generated sketches of early iPhone and iPad designs, along … Read more

Apple and Microsoft could once again join forces to bid on a collection of patents from a beleaguered technology giant, says a new report.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the two companies -- along with Nathan Myhrvold's Intellectual Ventures -- plan to band together to snatch up some or all of Kodak's patent portfolio. Initial bids for that collection of 1,100 patents are due at the beginning of next week.

The companies could face an opposing team made up of other rivals including Google, Samsung, HTC, and LG, along with San Francisco-based patent buyer and licensor … Read more

Multiple law firms plan to investigate Zynga CEO Mark Pincus and other people who work at Zynga on insider-trading claims, gamer blog Kotaku noted today.

The blog listed all the firms that have announced investigations so far: Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe, Newman Ferrara, Johnson & Weaver, Wohl & Fruchter, and Levi & Korsinsky.

The maker of Farmville reported disappointing earnings on Wednesday, which caused its stock to plummet. Zynga's shares closed at $3.09 today. On Wednesday, just before Zynga's earnings report came out, the stock ended the trading day at just over $5.

The investigations note that … Read more