Apple says Samsung copied the iPhone

A lawyer for Apple has told a jury that rival Samsung faced two options to compete in the
booming mobile phone market after Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone to critical acclaim in 2007:
Innovate or copy.
Lawyer Harold McElhinny claimed Samsung chose to copy, making its smartphones and
computer tablets illegal knockoffs of Apple's popular products.
Samsung 'has copied the entire design and user experience' of Apple's iPhone and iPad',
McElhinny told a 10-person jury during his opening remarks at the closely watched patent trial.
Samsung denies the claims and its lawyers were expected to deliver their opening statement
later in the day.
Samsung has previously countered that Apple did the stealing. It has also said some of the
technology at issue - such as the rounded rectangular designs of smartphones and tablets - has
been the industry standard for years.
The witness lists of both sides are long on experts, engineers and designers and short on familiar
names. For example, Apple CEO Tim Cook is not scheduled to testify.
Apple filed its lawsuit against Samsung last year and is demanding $US2.5 billion ($A2.4 billion)
in damages, an award that would dwarf the largest patent-related verdict to date.
The case marks the latest skirmish between the two companies over product designs. A similar
trial began last week, and the two companies have been fighting in other courts in the United
Kingdom and Germany.
US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose last month ordered Samsung to pull its Galaxy 10.1
computer tablet from the US market pending the outcome of the patent trial. However, she
barred Apple lawyers from telling jurors about the ban.
'In some sense, the big part of the case is not Apple's demands for damages but whether
Samsung gets to sell its products,' said Mark Lemley, a professor and director of the Stanford
Program in Law, Science, and Technology.
A verdict in Apple's favour could send a message to consumers that Android-based products such
as Samsung's are in legal jeopardy, Lemley said.
A verdict in Samsung's favour, especially if it prevails on its demands that Apple pay its asking
price for certain transmission technology, could lead to higher-priced Apple products.
In court papers filed last week, each company laid out its legal strategy in trial briefs.
Apple lawyers argue there is almost no difference between Samsung products and its own, and
that the South Korean company's internal documents show it copied Apple's iconic designs and
its interface.
Samsung denies the allegation and counter-claims that Apple copied its iPhone from Sony.
Samsung lawyers noted that it has been developing mobile phones since 1991 and that Apple
jumped into the market in 2007.