Apple granted access to already released Samsung products in trademark spat

Per Apple’s lawsuit against Samsung over an alleged copyright infringement, a federal court is forcing Samsung to hand over samples of the supposedly infringing devices, including packaging. Why? Apple wants to determine whether Samsung’s gear mimics the look and feel of Apple gadgets too closely, CNET reports, quoting a Courthouse News Service article.

Normally, there’d be three months before Samsung had to hand over samples, but San Jose Judge Lucy Koh has decided that Samsung has already been shooting its mouth off about the unreleased phones and can’t claim they’re secret models, Courthouse News reports. Apple points out that Samsung even gave away a Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet to all 5,000 people at the recent Google I/O developer conference.

This includes Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S II smartphone, in addition to the Infuse 4G and Droid Charge. The ruling also applies to the Galaxy-branded tablets (8-9 inch and 10.1-inch models), but not to Samsung’s iPod touch lookalike dubbed the Galaxy Player. Notice anything strange about this brouhaha?

Yeah, with the exception of Samsung’s 8.9-inch tablet, the aforementioned devices have either been widely available for some time or they are obtainable provided you’re a Samsung partner or member of the press. Heck, Apple could have gotten four out of the five unreleased Samsung products at Amazon, including the Galaxy 4 media player. Or, they could have secretly attended the Google I/O conference earlier this month and get the latest devices. This is a prime example of Justice Department moving way too slow and derailing legal proceedings. I mean, we here at 9to5Mac have three of the devices Apple was after in our labs.