Samsung sent a steady stream of witnesses to the stand on Wednesday as it tried to rebut Apple’s claims of patent infringement. Among the witnesses was an industrial designer who was involved in the design of the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 and numerous Galaxy smartphones.
One of the first things principal Samsung industrial designer Jin Soo Kim said when he took the stand on Wednesday was that work on the Galaxy 10.1 began in October of 2009, well before the iPad was announced in January 2010. The designer made reference to an email dated January 6, 2010, which included a drawing of the Samsung tablet’s design, to support his claims.
Describing the various steps involved in the creation of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, he said the goal of the project was to maximize screen size while minimizing device size. He said the original version of the tablet, which was first shown at the Mobile World Conference, was bulkier than the device’s revamped 2011 design.
Saying Samsung decided “we would produce the lightest and thinnest tablet in the world,” Kim claimed the idea to rework the tablet came before Apple’s iPad 2 was unveiled in March 2011. He also noted the Galaxy Tab is thinner than Apple’s tablet.
When asked if he had ever copied Apple’s designs, Kim said, “I have not.”
Apple lawyer Harold McIlhenny, when cross-examining Kim, brought up the Mobile World Congress 2011 version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1. He presented two internal Samsung e-mails, discussing Google’s request that Samsung change a design because it was too similar to the iPad, and another email thread that mentions Samsung device similarities to the iPhone. Kim said he had never been told about the emails.
The Apple vs. Samsung trial will continue through Friday. The jury is expected to begin deliberating next Wednesday, after closing arguments from both sides on Tuesday.
