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Jury deliberates Apple v Samsung evidence
Thu, 23rd Aug 2012
FYI, this story is more than a year old

The jury has begun deliberating in Apple’s lawsuit against Samsung, with the federal court expecting the process to span several days due to the complexity of the issues.

After talks between respective CEOs broke down on Monday, the nine selected jurors will begin deliberating over a verdict form containing over 700 questions for the multifaceted intellectual property case.

The form runs to 22 pages with 36 main questions split into different categories and further questions given the amount of patents, products and company subsidiaries involved.

Jurors will have to decide if Samsung Electronics infringed on the patents, which includes Samsung Electronics America and Samsung Telecommunications, by examining 24 individual handsets.

With a verdict not expected to be reached immediately, the struggle for industry supremacy looks set to continue for two rivals that control more than half of the global smartphone sales.

Spanning over a month, the trail began in dramatic fashion with concerns over jury impartiality, leading to 74 possible candidates being quizzed by U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh, with seven men and two women ultimately gaining selection.

Judge Koh initially found 18 jurors who can be ‘fair and impartial’ but settled on nine after both sides raised issues of impartiality.

Jurors include a man who filed for his own technology patents, an insurance agent, an unemployed video game enthusiast and an aspiring software engineer.

At the time of selection, Judge Koh told prospective jurors: "If you are ultimately selected as a juror, it will be an interesting case.”

If the jury concludes that either company violated each other’s patents – Judge Koh has the option to impose strict sales bans on Apple or Samsung mobile products in a move that would carry serious implications for the industry.

What do you think? Who will come out on top in the biggest patent infringement case to hit the U.S.? Tell us your thoughts below.