On Monday tech giants Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. head to court in San Francisco to settle patent issues relating to the their smartphones and tablets. The heated tussle between the two tech giants started last year when Apple filed lawsuit against the South Korean company, accusing it of plagiarizing designs of Apples' popular iPhone and iPad. Apple is suing for $2.5 billion in damages.
A few months ago, due to Apple's claims that Samsung's Galaxy Tablet infringed on patents of its very popular iPad, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ordered the Galaxy 10.1 computer tablet to be temporarily removed from the US markets.
The two companies have been dispute in over 10 countries, earlier last month a Judge in Great Britain ruled in favor of Samsung. Judge Corin Birss released a statement saying, "They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool," he said. "The overall impression produced is different," according to Reuters.
Samsung released a statement as follows: "Should Apple continue to make excessive legal claims in other countries based on such generic designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed and consumer choice unduly limited," as reported on Reuters.
In turn, Apple released a statement in direct rebuttal to the South Korean company on Reuters, "It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging."
Meanwhile, in San Francisco, a jury of 10 is currently being put together and opening statements are expected to be heard as soon as Monday evening.
Rumors about the release date of Apple's fifth generation iPhone has been making waves for the past few months, with rumored dates initially set for August (due to the successful sales of Samsung's Galaxy S3), and slowly making it to September or October, where the general consensus currently rests, but in a report Monday, a source with 'inside information,' according to pocket-lint (yahoonews) says that the much talked about phone will be on shelves on September 21.
According to these reports Apple will reveal the phone on the 12th and then on the 21st the phone will be available in stores. The rumors might not be so far off since Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer, hinted to the same telling reporters that the company's poor sales in the recently released quarterly report, saying "We're reading the same rumors and speculation you are about a new iPhone," according to the New York Times. Oppenheimer implied that the low sales might just be a precious harbinger for Apple, indicating that many people are holding back purchases in hopes of the new phone.
