Ina Fried

Recent Posts by Ina Fried

Apple Says Samsung Documents Show Google’s Influence On Galaxy Products

Apple introduced into evidence on Wednesday a pair of documents it argues show Google pressured Samsung to redesign its Galaxy products because they were too much like Apple’s phones and tablets.

The documents, translated from Korean, are hard to read even in English due to all the code names and acronyms. At times, though, the message is clear.

“Google is demanding distinguishable design vis-à-vis the iPad for the P3 (the original 10-inch Galaxy Tab),” Samsung wrote in a Feb. 22, 2010, email summarizing a meeting with Google.

The documents, which had been disclosed ahead of the trial, were used on Wednesday by Apple to bolster its case that Samsung’s products copy the iPad and iPhone, thereby infringing on several design and function patents. Samsung, for its part, alleges its products don’t infringe, that Apple’s patents are invalid and that it is Apple that is infringing on Samsung technology.

Samsung had called one of the designers of the Galaxy Tabs, Jin Soo Kim, to testify that Samsung was working on its tablets, including the Galaxy Tab 10.1, before Apple introduced the first iPad. Apple introduced the documents as part of its cross-examination.

Testimony in the case is nearing an end, with both sides in the Apple vs. Samsung trial having just a few hours left under the strict time schedule set out by Lucy Koh, the federal judge presiding over the trial.

That same document also noted that Samsung was going with Google Maps even though it thought Nokia’s Navteq was better for cost reasons.

In a separate Feb. 16 email, Samsung senior designer Hyun Kim passes along comments from a colleague who attended a Google meeting. With regards to both the seven-inch and 10-inch tablets, Google suggested changes were needed.

“Since it is too similar to Apple, make it noticeably different, starting with the front side,” Kim wrote. “Please give a lot of thought, particularly to landscape Orientation.”

Here are the full documents:

0043

0042


Apple versus Samsung Full Coverage

RELATED POSTS:

Latest Video

View all videos »

Search »

There was a worry before I started this that I was going to burn every bridge I had. But I realize now that there are some bridges that are worth burning.

— Valleywag editor Sam Biddle