Apple: Samsung request for iPad 3, iPhone 5 is harassment
It was easy to predict that Samsung’s request to see early copies of Apple products as part of an ongoing legal dispute between the two companies wouldn’t go over well with Apple.
Apple finally responded to Samsung’s late May request to see the “final, commercial version(s)” of the “iPhone 4S,” “iPhone 5,” “iPad 3,” “third-generation iPad,” and their retail packaging. Yesterday, Apple filed a motion in the District Court for the Northern District of California asking the judge to deny Samsung’s request.
The reason? Samsung’s request “is not a good faith attempt to obtain information needed to defend against a preliminary injunction,” the documents say. “Rather, it is a transparent and improper attempt to harass Apple by demanding extremely sensitive trade secrets that have no relevance to Apple’s infringement claims or to Samsung’s defenses to a preliminary injunction.”
This isn’t the first time in this legal proceeding Apple has used some particularly harsh language with Samsung.
This all started when Apple filed suit against Samsung in April for “slavishly” copying the look and feel of iPhone and iPad products. The suit specifically accused Samsung of “patent and trademark infringement, as well as unfair competition” in regard to several smartphones, including the Nexus S.
Samsung attempts to use Apple’s own tactics against them. I have a feeling this won’t go over well, since Apple is the one that filed the original suit.