Samsung to Depose Jony Ive and Other Apple Designers, Seeks iPhone 4S Source Code

The legal battle between Apple and Samsung continues to rage in a number of different countries, and Samsung is going on the offensive with recent attempts to obtain testimony from Apple senior vice president Jony Ive and other designers, as well as to receive access to the iPhone 4S source code and the detail of Apple's agreements with carriers in Australia.


Samsung's planned depositions of Ive and Apple designers Doug Satzger, Shin Nishibori, and Christopher Stringer are part of the U.S. proceedings, with the testimony originally scheduled to be taken by November 1st. But due to scheduling conflicts and other issues, Samsung has filed a motion seeking to extend the timeframe until December 1st. From the motion:

Mr. Satzger is a former Apple employee represented by separate counsel. He is unable to sit for deposition before November 1 because, during the month of October, his lawyer has a full deposition schedule in a separate class action matter.

Mr. Nishibori is unable to sit for deposition before November 1 because he currently is on a voluntary leave of absence from Apple.

Mr. Ive is unable to sit for deposition before November 1 for personal reasons.

Mr. Stringer is unable to sit for deposition before November 1 because of work and scheduling conflicts.

Meanwhile, ZDNet reports on Samsung's legal request to have sales of the iPhone 4S banned in Australia, an effort that has seen the company seek access to the iPhone 4S source code and Apple's specific agreements with Australian carriers in order to make its full case before the court.

In particular, Samsung is keen to find out the amounts of subsidies paid by Telstra, Optus and Vodafone to Apple for selling the iPhones on plans.

[Samsung lawyer Cynthia Cochrane noted:] "If subsidies [are] given for the iPhone 4S, there are less to go around for my client's products."

...

[Apple lawyer Cameron] Moore also claimed that because Qualcomm developed the baseband chip in the iPhone 4S — the Qualcomm MDM6610 — and had licence agreements in place for Samsung patents, these agreements would apply to the iPhone 4S. Cochrane said that Samsung experts would need to see the source code for the iPhone 4S firmware to see how the chip interacts with the rest of the phone to determine whether the company's patent is being infringed.

Apple will certainly not give up the requested information willingly, viewing the source code and legal agreements as proprietary information. The judge in the case is Annabelle Bennett, who had previously awarded Apple an injunction barring the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia and is now being asked to rule on a similar request from the other side.