Design expert got $75,000 from Apple "so far" for his testimony

We’re already in the second week of the massive Apple vs Samsung legal battle, and lastly Apple brought a design expert in to give his educated opinion about whether the Samsung Galaxy S infringes on Apple patents or not. The expert, Peter Bressler, confirmed each and every one of Apple’s claims. Bressler mainly verified that the Galaxy S has the same rectangular form as the iPhone along with features like black color, a display central on the front of the phone, and a lozenge-shaped speaker.

But who exactly is this expert and why should the court trust his opinion? Peter Bressler is an Associate University of Pennsylvania professor and the inventor of some 70 design patents. He also was a witness in seven other trials prior to that. Interestingly, the professor describes himself as an expert witness, something that Samsung stressed by noting that the professor does this for a living.

And living takes money. One of Samsung’s lawyers, Charles Verhoeven, asked Bressler straight how much Apple paid him to give his expert opinion in this case. “So far?” Bressler asked. “$75,000.”

Verhoeven also brought up the fact that even though Bressler lists himself as an expert witness, the site where he does so is under construction.

Now, there’s a thin line here - it’s clear that the research to give an educated expert opinion takes time and that’s definitely worth some money. On the other hand, Samsung is using the fact that $75,000 “so far” is a pretty big sum and insinuates it could have swung the professor’s decision. It also puts a shade of doubt on the professor’s credibility given that even his website is under construction. What do you think? Should the judge take the expert’s opinion with a shade of doubt?

source: TechCrunch