If things had gone as planned, jurors in the latest Apple-Samsung patent trial would have gotten to hear final arguments on Monday and perhaps even begun their deliberations.
What Jurors in Apple-Samsung Case Will Hear Monday Instead of Closing Arguments
An appeals court ruling means the jury will have to hear another couple of hours of expert testimony before getting jury instructions.
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However, an appellate ruling in a related case that came down on Friday threw a monkey wrench in the works. As a result, jurors will have to sit through another couple of hours of mind-numbing expert testimony.
That’s because in deciding an Apple-Motorola case, the appeals court ruled, among other things, how a particular term in one of the Apple patents should be understood.
It’s all really complicated and a bit dull, but the upshot is that Judge Lucy Koh decided each side will get an hour to make their case on what the new definition means to their cases.
And after enduring that excitement, the eight-member panel is also expected to hear their final jury instructions. While they will have Judge Koh’s 56 pages of written instructions in the jury room, the law requires that the instructions be read aloud, a process that is also likely to take a couple of hours.
On Tuesday, things should pick up as lawyers for each side get to make one last appeal to the jury. Apple and Samsung will each have two hours of final arguments, with Apple up first on the main case, followed by Samsung making its arguments for why it didn’t infringe on Apple’s patents as well as a counterclaim that certain iPhones and iPod touch devices infringe on two Samsung-owned patents. Apple will then get a last chance to argue that last point.
Then, barring any further surprises, the jury should get the case late Tuesday.
As a recap, Apple is seeking more than $2 billion in damages on its patent claims. Samsung maintains its phones and tablets don’t infringe on Apple’s patents, nor were the patents properly issued in the first place. Even if it does infringe, Samsung says, Apple has greatly exaggerated the value of its patents.
Among the most interesting developments in the trial so far is the fact that Google has agreed to handle the defense of some of the Android-related features at issue in the case and to bear some of the legal liability if Samsung loses.
For those feeling left out of all the fun, here are the final jury instructions, all 56 pages of them.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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