Samsung was dressed down in court on Tuesday after the company leaked evidence excluded from the proceedings to media outlets and issued an out-of-court statement saying the exhibits "would have established beyond doubt that Samsung did not copy the iPhone design."
The comment refers to the exclusion of a deposition taken from former Apple designer Shin Nishibori which outlined a conversation he had with the company's Senior Vice President of Industrial Design Jonathan Ive over what an iPhone would look like if it were made by Sony, reports PC Magazine.
"The Judge’s exclusion of evidence on independent creation meant that even though Apple was allowed to inaccurately argue to the jury that the F700 was an iPhone copy, Samsung was not allowed to tell the jury the full story and show the pre-iPhone design for that and other phones that were in development at Samsung in 2006, before the iPhone," Samsung said in a statement. "The excluded evidence would have established beyond doubt that Samsung did not copy the iPhone design. Fundamental fairness requires that the jury decide the case based on all the evidence."
In a follow-up report from CNet, presiding Judge Lucy Koh was made aware of the evidence leak by Apple attorneys and ordered Samsung to file a brief explaining who wrote the statement and who green-lit its dissemination. The judge was reportedly "audibly irritated."
AppleInsider first discovered Samsung's "Sony-styled" iPhone evidence when the company presented its trial brief last Friday, but the design and deposition were ultimately excluded from the trial.
From Nishibori's deposition in May:
First, Jonathan Ive talked to me. "Well, Shin, I have something to talk to you about." He said, "You can do this as an aside of your job and enjoy - I want you to enjoy doing this. But if Sony were to make a iPhone, what would it be like? Would you make it for me?"
Samsung is not allowed to bring up the prototype or associated arguments during the trial.
According to Financial Times reporter Tim Bradshaw, who tweeted the court proceedings on Tuesday, Samsung argued that Apple didn't invent the rectangular screen, a view most recently asserted by the company's Chief Product Officer Kevin Packingham.
While Apple argued the iPhone "changed phones forever" during its opening statement, the Galaxy maker noted Samsung parts account for some 26 percent of an iPhone and asked, "who's the real innovator?"