14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung and Apple have been fighting over patents, and the devices that use them, for months, but now they have been revealed to also be fighting over the manner in which they are to fight over those things.
Samsung and Apple probably agree about disagreeing, but that hasn't been much use in mollifying the judge overseeing their spat in San Jose, California.
The repetition in the opening sentence isn't there just for the fun of it. It is, in fact, a very accurate summation of what Samsung and Apple have been on about for the past two weeks.
It turns out that the two, even now in the third week of their patent trial, haven't agreed on what instructions the jury is supposed to follow.
Things got so bad that presiding judge Lucy Koh ordered the lead attorneys of both companies, on Sunday, to meet and agree on final jury guidelines.
By all accounts, a final document outlining the rules the jury must abide by, in deciding the case, should have been ready by now.
Alas, the best anyone, the judge included, can hope for is a file specifying the agreements and disagreements of the two. Most likely, Judge Lucy Koh will need to resolve the matter through a ruling.
"The Court is disappointed by the parties' respective reports regarding their meet and confer efforts on final jury instructions," the court order reads.
"Lead trial counsel shall meet and confer in person today and file joint and disputed final jury instructions by Monday, August 13, 2012 at 8 a.m."
We've yet to hear of a conclusion to these drawn-out arguments, so it is a fortunate thing that the final jury instructions aren't needed for at least one more week. Should the court need to settle the issue directly, it will need time to review the terms.