Apple, Samsung Point Fingers as Patent Case Begins - Wall Street Journal

By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO

Reuters

A courtroom sketch of Apple attorney Harold McElhinny, center, delivering his opening statement to jurors.

SAN JOSE, Calif.â€"Lawyers for Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. delivered opening statements Tuesday in their high-stakes patent case, with Apple promising to prove that Samsung comprehensively copied the iconic iPhone and Samsung disputing the originality of the device.

The patent trial pitting Apple against Samsung that kicks off today could help bolster or refute Apple's contention that Google's OS illegally copies software features. Andrew Dowell reports on digits. Photo: Getty Images.

The companies' 90-minute statements kicked off a trial whose evidence features troves of internal emails, secret design plans and wonky technical discussions about the innards of smartphones and the growing importance they play in consumers' lives.

Patent attorneys for the two companies squared off in a debate over smartphone innovation that they traced back to before Apple co-founder Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in 2007.

Later in the day, Apple called its first witness, one of company's veteran industrial designers Christopher Stringer, who described various iterations of the iPhone design and said Samsung had "ripped off" Apple.

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The event filled much of a gray federal building here as part of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. A crowd of lawyers in suits, Silicon Valley bystanders and reporters packed a courtroom as well as an overflow room equipped with two TV monitors.

The two technology powerhouses are battling to protect their leadership in the cutthroat smartphone business, in which Samsung has surpassed Apple as the market leader. A ruling of patent infringement by either company could force costly technical changes to keep their products on the shelves, not to mention financial penalties. Apple is seeking more than $2.5 billion in damages, and Samsung is seeking a percentage of the costs of Apple's mobile devices.

The case could also affect the course of many other battles contesting which companies can claim title on key smartphone innovations.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh signaled that she'll keep both technology giants on a tight leash during the weekslong trial ahead.

She admonished Samsung lawyers for leaving and entering the courtroom during Apple's opening statement and expressed frustration with lawyers' desire to raise objections to evidence she claimed had been put to rest.

The day pitted Harold J. McElhinny, an attorney representing Apple, against Charles Verhoeven, for Samsung. The experienced patent lawyers approached the nine-member jury with different styles.

Mr. McElhinny, confident but relaxed, cracked a joke about his age and made references to how his grandchild could easily use an iPad. Mr. Verhoeven, who at times sat on a stool due to back problems, was more serious and straightforward, urging jurors not to be swayed by Apple's arguments or commercial success.

Starting first, Mr. McElhinny, of Morrison & Foerster LLP, described what he said is voluminous evidence that Samsung deliberately copied the iPhone.

He discussed a September 2007 internal Samsung "Feasibility Review" which dissected the iPhone. The document referred to the iPhone's "beautiful design" and "easy to copy" hardware.

"At its highest corporate level, Samsung decided to simply copy every element of the iPhone," Mr. McElhinny said, repeatedly contrasting Samsung's designs before and after the iPhone.

Charles Verhoeven, of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, countered later in the day that the reports were typical "benchmarking" used for competitors and said Samsung will provide evidence that Apple conducts similar research.

Mr. Verhoeven said that Samsung's designs changed as phones became more powerful and to meet consumer demand. Samsung isn't "a copyist," he said, arguing that the iPhone is less original than Apple claims.

"Apple didn't invent the rectangular shape form-factor you keep seeing," Mr. Verhoeven said, adding that Apple has no right to claim a "monopoly on a rectangular shape."

The Samsung attorney also told the jury that they would find no evidence that a consumer would mistake a Samsung device for an Apple one, addressing a key point the jury will need to consider in deciding whether patents were infringed. Samsung is also asserting that Apple violated several patents it holds related to wireless standards and other features.

Both sides tried to bolster their arguments with plenty of show and tell. Mr. McElhinny displayed images of Samsung's Galaxy phone and ticked off their similarities to the iPhone. Mr. Verhoeven presented his own set of more diverse designs that he said were more representative of Samsung's full lineup.

The arguments largely rehashed contentions both sides have made in thousands of documents in this high-profile patent suit, which Apple fired at Samsung in April 2011. It is one of more than a dozen cases in which Apple is suing the makers of smartphones that run Google Inc.'s Android operating system around the globe, seeking to remove the competing devices from shelves and recoup damages.

But the trial also rewound several years to the beginning of the smartphone industry in order to impress upon the jury how innovative the new devices were. Lawyers tried to make technical arguments more accessible, by pointing to the innards of the phones to show where the technology resides.

Mr. McElhinny referred to the late Mr. Jobs's announcement of the iPhone, painting the device as revolutionary and risky.

"What the world really needed, what it didn't have was a phone that had the capabilities of a computer," he said. He said Apple designers built a phone "the world had never seen before."

He painted the move as a big risk for Apple. "They were about to enter a field dominated by giants," he said, citing Samsung and Nokia Corp. as rivals. "They were literally betting their company."

Write to Jessica E. Vascellaro at jessica.vascellaro@wsj.com