Samsung's legal defense against Apple includes wisecracks, the LG Prada, and a 1994 tablet newspaper concept

During the two-day hearing in a Dutch court regarding the pan-European Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales ban, which only excluded the Netherlands, Samsung's lawyers managed to achieve a stalemate, since it has filed a counter-case against Apple in the country for violating some 3G patents. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet will be selling freely there until at least October 13th, even if an injunction takes place on September 15th, as outlined in the statement below:

"In order to allow for an orderly proceeding, Apple and its Affiliates and Samsung Korea and its Affiliates agree that they will not file or seek ex parte or inter partes actions in the Netherlands against any of the others' products or entities until the decision is issued by the Court in the Apple v. Samsung preliminary injunction action in the Netherlands, which is expected to be issued by Judge Brinkmann on September 15, 2011. This stipulation shall be without prejudice to any party with respect to any claim of urgency for any action taken after September 15th for the time period during which this stipulation is effective."

How did Samsung get to that impasse? Thanks to tweets by a local journalist from the courtroom, we know that its lawyers fought the Apple case, partly based on Community Design sketches from 2004, with wise remarks like "According to Apples standards every digital photo frame is an iPad", "we also have a lot of patents, but on real technology", "Apple wants to stop anything thin" and so on. The judge had already dismissed as proof an online poll, commissioned by Apple, where 80% of the people find the Galaxy Tab and the iPad "identical" or "similar in general impression", saying the methodology was questionable.

Samsung also showed 20 cases of prior art of tablets and smartphones, resembling Apple's vague patent and Community Design drawings, including a 1994 tablet newspaper concept, called the Knight Ridder, a video of which we are embedding below, and the lawyers' goal was to show that the idea had been out there long before the iPad.



Now the battle has moved over to Korea, where Samsung and Apple presented their cases at a preliminary court hearing in Seoul last Friday. On its home turf Samsung used similar defense as in front of the Dutch court, showing the LG Prada as proof that rectangular touchscreen-equipped handsets existed before the first iPhone.

Looks like Samsung has a fine-tuned defense tactic, the part left now is to convince the judges as well. The Dutch judge has commented with a smile that both companies have "real terriers" for lawyers, so this could only get better.

source: Twitter & SammyHub