Apple, Samsung rest cases in patent trial as testimony phase wraps up

Following a cavalcade of witnesses Apple called to the stand to rebut testimony from Samsung's own experts, presiding Judge Lucy Koh said, "We are done," putting a cap on the nearly fifty hours of testimony heard by the jury, reports All Things D.

Near the start of the day, Apple had about two and a half hours left to rebut Samsung's arguments, while the South Korean company was down to just under 40 minutes. Judge Koh earlier limited each side to 25 hours of witness testimony.

According to All Things D's in-court reports, Apple used its time to call New York University professor and former assistant Attorney General for the antitrust division Janusz Ordover to the stand. In his testimony, Ordover said Samsung's declared standards-essential patents have allowed the company to gain a near monopoly in the industry as far as wireless technologies are concerned.

In rebutting Samsung's claims of patent infringement, Apple brought a number of repeat witnesses back to the stand, including Peter Bressler. The designer disputed Samsung's claims that the 1994 Fidler tablet concept invalidated Apple's own design patents, a point the Korean company tried to hammer home multiple times throughout the trial.

Bressler went on to refute invalidation claims based on several Japanese and Korean designs as well as the LG Prada smartphone. Samsung witness Itay Sherman presented the evidence in court on Wednesday, saying that Apple's designs were functional, not ornamental.

On the user interface front, Apple called Karan Singh back to the stand, who explained Samsung's assertion of previous art against the Cupertino company's UI zooming patents didn't hold water. Singh said Samsung witness Ben Bederson's LaunchTile property doesn't actually enlarge any on-screen assets, but launches certain applications instead. Bederson on Monday demoed LaunchTile, a program that allows users easily navigate a screen of 36 applications with one hand by "zooming in" on specific apps.

Up next was Ravin Balakrishnan, who testified in support of the iPhone maker's '915 "pinch-to-zoom" and '381 "rubber-banding" patents, saying Samsung's claims of prior art don't cover the specifics of Apple's property. The Korean company on Monday brought out Adam Bogue, creator of Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory's DiamondTouch display table.

Bogue argued the device's FractalZoom feature, which supports a single touch for scrolling and two fingers for pinch and zoom, predates Apple's patent. It was also revealed during his testimony that the technology was demoed to Apple hardware engineers in 2003. Bogue went on to describe a follow-up invention, dubbed TableCloth, that incorporates a "bounce back" animation when images are dragged offscreen.

After the court's afternoon break on Friday, Apple rested its case leading Samsung to bring up two final witnesses, David Teece and Woodward Yang.

Teece testified on Friday that Samsung's disclosure of its patents was timely, showing a study offering examples from other companies. He went on to say that the company's FRAND licensing offer to Apple was reasonable, noting that it had proposed a cross-license agreement with the iPhone maker. On Thursday, Teece and Samsung witness Vincent O'Brien estimated Apple owed up to $421.8 million in royalties pertaining to five patents.

With testimony completed, Apple and Samsung need to finalize jury instructions, with a discussion on the matter scheduled for Monday. Jury deliberations should begin Wednesday after the parties get two hours each for closing arguments on Tuesday.