Two angry litigants —

Apple, Samsung at odds over jury misconduct allegation

The conduct of patent-holding jury foreman is being questioned.

Apple and Samsung are nowhere near done fighting over the patent trial that led to a $1 billion victory for Apple last month. Last week, Samsung demanded a judgment as a matter of law in its favor or a new trial, apparently due to concern that the patent-holding jury foreman improperly relied on information not presented during trial. Apple made its own court filing (PDF) on Tuesday night, accusing Samsung of attacking the jury process with baseless and frivolous claims.

Samsung's brief arguing for a new trial was partially redacted, but CNET noted that it references previous court cases involving jury misconduct. The most likely scenario seems to be Samsung attacking jury foreman Velvin Hogan, who holds a patent on a personal video recording and storage system. Samsung could argue that Hogan improperly brought his outside knowledge into play in the trial, and swayed the rest of the jury.

Apple's response begins: "Continuing the attack on the jury and the jury process that Samsung has waged in the press worldwide, Samsung has filed a motion for a new trial based on alleged juror misconduct. Samsung seeks to seal the arguments and certain supporting declarations and exhibits concerning the alleged misconduct, citing concern for the jurors’ privacy and the integrity of the proceedings. But Samsung’s actions belie its words, as it has publicly filed documents that reveal the very facts that it seeks to seal. As a result, the media were quickly able to discern not only that Samsung had accused the jury of misconduct but also which juror it accused."

Apple further called Samsung's jury misconduct allegations "baseless" and "frivolous."

"Among other failings, Samsung’s motion does not even address, let alone disclose, when Samsung learned the facts on which it bases its misconduct allegations, and in particular, whether Samsung impermissibly delayed raising this issue, as the facts Samsung does disclose suggest," Apple wrote.

Apple's filing is not a full response to the demand for a new trial. Rather, it is a partial opposition to Samsung's motion to file documents under seal and prohibit the parties from communicating with jurors. But this looks like the beginning of a battle over whether the jury committed misconduct in its deliberations.

In a separate filing last night, Apple asked for a judgment as a matter of law that various Samsung devices infringe its patents, and previously asked for an additional $707 million in damages, and sales bans on infringing Samsung products.

Channel Ars Technica