Apple: The copyist Samsung is harassing us

Apple wrote in the official court documents pertaining to its legal spat with Samsung that its key supplier “attempts to harass us” by demanding to see unreleased iPhone and iPad devices. Samsung’s request, of course, came as a response to a federal court ruling granting Apple access to the already released Samsung smartphones and tablets that the gadget maker from California alleges infringe on its patents and copy their look and feel. Apple in court documents calls Samsung “the copyist”, author Florian Mueller writes on the FOSS Patents blog. Here’s a juicy excerpt from Apple’s filing in opposition to Samsung’s Motion to Compel the surrender of samples of the iPad 3 and iPhone 5:

Samsung’s Motion to Compel is an improper attempt to harass Apple by demanding production of extremely sensitive trade secrets that have no relevance to Apple’s likelihood of success on its infringement claims or to a preliminary injunction motion. Apple made a compelling showing in its motion to expedite discovery that Apple needs samples of products that Samsung has already announced, distributed, and described, so that Apple can evaluate whether to file a preliminary injunction motion against those products, which look strikingly similar to the distinctive trade dress of Apple’s current products. Samsung has made no such showing about Apple’s future products. Therefore, Samsung’s Motion to Compel should be denied.