Samsung and Apple are scheduled to sit down later this month to try and reach an agreement on their patent differences, but if a Tuesday filing is any indication, the two companies aren't exactly ready to kiss and make up.
As noted by patent blogger Florian Mueller, Samsung and Apple filed a joint statement early this morning ahead of a scheduled case management conference with Judge Lucy Koh. The filing has many technical details, which Mueller dissects, but they also include some amusing requests from both sides - from Apple's demand that Samsung's logo not be displayed in the courtroom to Samsung's request that content from Apple-related blogs be banned.
The demands are necessary, Mueller said in a separate post, because both companies are required to provide details about the evidence-related issues they might bring up at trial.
What do they want? First, Apple wants all Samsung logos to be obscured in the courtroom. Do the Northern California District Courts use Samsung monitors? Better get some duct tape and cover that up!
"At first sight, this may seem very funny, but I actually understand why Apple would make this request: at a conscious level, it can show to jurors that Samsung actually contributes technology to the U.S. government, and at a subconscious level, it creates the impression of the court being Samsung territory," Mueller wrote.
Apple also doesn't want Samsung to rely on Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography for evidence. Some of the book is framed through Jobs's famous "reality distortion field," making Apple's concern understandable, but "Apple is going to tell the jury its story of Samsung being a copycat that unfairly exploits Apple's technologies and designs, and Samsung must have a fair chance to counter those allegations," Mueller said.
Apple also doesn't want Samsung to bring up labor issues in China, which Mueller conceded is of "little relevance" to the case anyway.
On the Samsung side, the company has asked that the court exclude "Apple related blogs, and articles by non-expert newspaper reporters, regarding any assessment of Apple and Samsung and/or their products."
Samsung also wants certain individuals banned from testimony: Henry Urbach, Apple's expert on the alleged cultural significance of Apple, and Sanjay Sood, Apple's expert on consumer decision making. Both experts, Samsung said, would present irrelevant or biased data.
If Tim Cook and Gee-Sung Choi come to an agreement during their May 21-22 settlement talks, these demands might not even be an issue, but it appears that they have a long way to go.