Apple v Samsung II - Parties File Joint Status Report: To Stay or Not to Stay ~pj Updated: Not

Apple and Samsung, at the judge's request, have filed their joint status report [PDF] on the theme of whether the judge should stay Apple v. Samsung II until after the appeals court rules on Apple's appeal of Apple v. Samsung I. It's a joint report, filed together, but they agree on nothing. Samsung says they should wait; Apple says they shouldn't. Apple says that the two cases are distinct, with Apple II involving none of the same patents and "virtually none" of the same Samsung products.

Virtually none isn't none, so Apple adds that the only reason there is any real overlap is because Samsung "chose to accuse some of the same products in both cases." Like that doesn't count. Samsung is the counterclaim-plaintiff here. Apple says Apple shouldn't have to wait on Apple's claims just because Samsung has its own claims. "The Apple patents at issue in this case are from completely different families, cover different technologies, and solve different problems than those in the 1846 Case. None of the 1846 Case appeals, therefore, will resolve any issue affecting claim construction, infringement, or validity of the patents asserted in this case."

Not the world's best argument, unless you think the judge is willing to split the cases up. And if we can safely say that there is a judge who has had enough of the demands of both Apple and Samsung, I think we may say it is Judge Lucy Koh. But Apple wants to stop Samsung's new products from infringing Apple's patents, as it sees it, not the old ones in Apple v. Samsung I (where it wants an injunction -- hence the pending appeal), because it wants to avoid "irreparable harm" to Apple. That's a magic phrase that might work. Samsung keeps launching new products -- Apple calls it a "relentless launch" of infringing devices causing harm to Apple. That's the same as saying Apple can't compete as things now stand.

Samsung counters that there is too an overlap, not only in products but in legal facts and theories. Why risk having a do-over, if the appeals court rules that the judge is making errors that implicate how discovery and the trials are being administered or everyone is following legal theories the appeals court knocks down?