[Update] Late on Sunday, Judge Koh overruled all of Samsung's related objections because each of the images of Steve Jobs "is relevant to Apple’s iPhone design patent and trade dress claims and is not unduly prejudicial". [/Update]
Ahead of the trial starting tomorrow in San Jose, Samsung just filed 14 objections to Apple's opening slides. The first one: "Samsung objects to the images of Steve Jobs appearing in Slide Nos. 6, 7, 12, 16, and 29 of Apple's Opening Presentation."
The parties' opening slides haven't been published yet. That's why all that's known about Apple's slides at this stage is what the parties say in the filings they just made. According to Samsung, "[t]hese gratuitous images have no evidentiary value and have been asserted in order to turn the trial into the popularity contest that the Court prohibited" in a previous ruling. Samsung quotes the relevant part of that ruling:
"Evidence related to Steve Jobs will generally be excluded unless it is specifically relevant to the IP rights at issue in the case, although the Court will make that determination on a case-by-case basis."
This is a situation in which Judge Koh will have to make a decision on specific references to Steve Jobs. To the extent that Apple's opening presentation references past events in which Steve Jobs was the protagonist, such as major product launches, there may be a factual basis for showing some of the pictures Samsung objects to, though the court might also agree with Samsung that "[t]he use of Mr. Jobs' image in these slides is not relevant to the specific intellectual property rights at issue in this case".
In its responsive filing, Apple seeks to justify the use of those images:
Three of the images are "from a joint exhibit – 1091 (the MacWorld 2007 video), which Samsung itself relies on in its opening demonstratives (at Samsung slide no. 148)", so "Samsung cannot complain about Apple's use of the same video" that shows "the public introduction of the iPhone on January 7, 2007, which launched the fame that the iPhone trade dress has acquired". Also, "[b]ecause they demonstrate Apple's notice of the 200+ patents covering the iPhone -- including the asserted patents, they thus are relevant to willfulness".
Another slide refers to an exhibition relating to Steve Jobs's patents, which was organized by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. "Among the highlighted patents at the PTO exhibit are at least two patents at issue in this litigation -- the D'677 and D'889" -- and Apple argues that "[t]he Patent Office exhibit demonstrates praise by others to rebut non-obviousness".
The fifth image of Steve Jobs in the presentation is "a screenshot from the announcement of the iPad in July 2010" and, therefore, "relevant to the introduction of the iPad and its acquisition of fame and secondary meaning", Apple says.
Samsung makes an equal treatment kind of argument: "If Apple is allowed to use these slides, Samsung requests that the Court allow it to use the quotes from Mr. Jobs -- which do have nonprejudicial evidentiary value -- and yet were excluded by the Court's ruling on Apple's Motion in Limine No. 7."
Simply put, if Apple shows pictures of Steve Jobs in its opening presentation, Samsung wants to quote the part on "thermonuclear war" against Android from Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography. But things aren't that simple. Quotes from that biography are just hearsay and were deemed inadmissible without any exception. As far as Apple's references to Steve Jobs are concerned, Judge Koh made this subject to case-by-case decisions, and we'll know soon how many of those five appearances in Apple's opening slides will be allowed by the court. I doubt that she's going to strike all five of them.
[Update] Late on Sunday, Judge Koh overruled all of Samsung's related objections because each of the images of Steve Jobs "is relevant to Apple’s iPhone design patent and trade dress claims and is not unduly prejudicial". [/Update]
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