Samsung and Apple Patent Trial Begins

The legal battle between Samsung and Apple – which has seen the two firms accuse each other of patent infringement – has reached trial. Taking place later today in a Californian federal court, the trial could see the companies force pay billions in damages, or even lead to a sales ban.

The trial combines two actions – a lawsuit from Apple and a countersuit from Samsung – meaning that both companies stand accused of infringing on the others intellectual property. A jury of 10 people will hear evidence over the course of four weeks.

Apple initially filed a lawsuit in April last year, claiming it is victim to seven breaches of patent – including product design of the iPad and iPhone, as well as several user-interface elements. This was followed by a Samsung countersuit, claiming that Apple infringed five of its own patents, including technology relating to 3G connectivity.

This is just the latest development in the ongoing legal battle between the two companies – US sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 were prevented last year according to the ruling of a US district judge, and the Galaxy Nexus handset is also subject to a pretrial ban – though this has currently been suspended, and will be decided on during this trial. 

Outside of the US, Samsung has had more luck in court – a Dutch court forced Apple to pay damages over one of the aforementioned connectivity patents, and two weeks ago it was ruled in a UK court that Apple would have to publicly apologise online and in the press for claiming that Samsung had copied its iPad design.