Samsung has already made Judge Lucy Koh furious by publishing evidence that she decided should not be put in front of the court. Koh had ruled that evidence which Samsung proved that Apple did not invent the iPhone should not be put before the jury. 

Samsung was furious because it meant that Apple could tell the jury that its F700 was an iPhone copy but Samsung was not allowed to show the pre-iPhone design for that and other phones that were in development at Samsung in 2006, before the iPhone. Samsung said that fundamental fairness requires that the jury decide the case based on all the evidence.

The Judge and Apple were quick to react to the documents’ release. Koh wanted to know who drafted the press release and who authorised it from the legal team. Koh had already threatened sanctions against Samsung should it keep insisting that the evidence was presented. Samsung laywers apparently said that it was unfair having a trial which didn’t accept “key” evidence. The evidence that Samsung wanted to show was how it developed something which looked like an iPhone long before Apple. Samsung’s documentation primarily concerns the timeline of the F700?s aesthetic development.



It shows that Samsung was already working on touchscreen-centric devices prior to the unveiling of the original iPhone. But it also concerns the handywork of ex-Apple designer Shin Nishibori, responsible for the so-called Nishibori Design of March 2006, for which he was tasked to imagine what Sony might do if they were to create Apple’s intended smartphone.

Samsung included several comments made by the designer during deposition in early 2012 along with an email from Apple designer Richard Howarth to Jonathan Ive citing the Nishibori Design.

More here.