The long-running patent infringement trial between Apple and Samsung is getting ready for its next episode, and the two companies have submitted their witness lists, reports CNET.
Apple’s top executives, CEO Tim Cook and design head Jony Ive, will not be taking the witness stand. However, Apple executives and employees, past and present, will be making an appearance.
Apple will call Richard Howarth, a senior director on the Apple Design Team, along with Greg Joswiak, vice president of product marketing, to the stand.
Apple plans to call Richard Howarth, a senior director of the Apple Design Team and one of the co-inventors of the patents in question in the case. He will testify about the design process at Apple, the infringed design patents and other designs considered by Apple, among other topics.
Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of product marketing, also will take the stand. Joswiak, who played a major role at Apple’s March iPad launch, will talk about Apple’s marketing strategy, the competitive market for smartphones and the importance of Apple’s design patents for its devices, among other topics.
Another witness of note on the list is Susan Kare, who worked as a designer at Apple in the early days of the Macintosh computer. Kare, who was recently was named a recipient of the prestigious American Institute of Graphic Arts medal, created many of the icons used in the original Macintosh computers, including the “Happy Mac” and trash icons.
If called to the stand, Kare would testify about icon and user interface graphics design, and discuss one of the patents in question in the case. Kare had testified in 2012 that Samsung’s copying of Apple was “an option, not a requirement.”
“What’s important on a touchscreen is that there’s a target for your finger,” she said when asked about the containers. “That doesn’t need to be enclosed in a fence… It’s an option, not a requirement.”
Other witnesses on Apple’s list include professor of computer science, Ravin Balakrishnan; industrial design expert, Alan Ball; Julie Davis, a consultant with expertise in damages analysis; and computer science professor Karan Singh.
Samsung plans to call Justin Denison, its senior vice president of mobile product strategy and marketing; senior director of product marketing, Drew Blackard and corporate design vice president Jinsoon Kim.
The latest Apple v. Samsung damages retrial, just the latest in a continuing series, will begin on Monday, May 14. The retrial will attempt to set a figures to be paid by Samsung to Apple for infringing on Apple’s design patents.
The two device makers have been battling back and forth since 2011, when Apple initially sued Samsung for copying the iPhone’s design.
(Via MacRumors)
