Apple and Samsung raise objections to each side's jury instructions

Late Friday, Samsung and Apple filed a 361 page document with the district court that will be hearing their patent trial. The trial is scheduled to begin July 30th with voire dire (which literally means 'to speak the truth' and is used as a way for the court to select the jury). In the document, both Samsung and Apple raised objections to the jury instructions that each side requests be read prior to deliberations. Each side has certain instructions that they want read to the jury at specific times. Most objections are based on the exact words that the judge will read to the jury, although Samsung has some complaints based on race.Apple wants a disclaimer read when the first foreign witness testifies, that says that other languages like Korean will be spoken at the trial and that even if a juror knows Korean or any other language used, only the official English translation should be considered. Samsung, which is based in South Korea, says that this statement will only point out the ethnicity or a witness. Samsung's own instruction is similar to Apple's, but removes the use of "Korean" in the opening sentence.

Another point that both sides disagree on is the definition of certain patents. Samsung says a "'design patent’ protects the way an article looks, but not the way it functions.” On the other hand, Apple disputes this definition and says that the "instruction is misleading because design patents protect articles of manufacture that have or serve a function, so long as the overall design of the article is not 'dictated by function'."

It is up to Judge Lucy Koh to make a decision about the jury instructions. She could ask both sides to narrow down their requests or she could wait for the pretrial conference. Both sides might have to make their objections and changes on the fly as the trial proceeds. Whatever the judge decides this is just another indication of the wide gulf between Samsung and Apple. You can check out the filing of the disputed jury instructions below.

source: AppleInsider