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The massive and slightly ridiculous legal spat between Apple and Samsung has taken a yet more bizarre twist, as Samsung has demanded that some or even all of Apple’s lawyers are disqualified from representing the iPhone-building tech-giant, Fosspatents reports.
Samsung’s reasoning is that within the Bridges & Mavrakakis patent litigation specialist law firm that Apple has employed to represent them in court, there are at least five lawyers, including firm founder Kenneth Bridges, who previously represented Samsung while working elsewhere.
Samsung reckons that fact “taints all attorneys at Bridges & Mavrakakis by imputation” and results in a conflict of interest — lawyers at that firm could be privy to inside information on Samsung’s inner workings.
The Korean manufacturer states in its motion: “It is inevitable that Samsung’s confidential information … will be used to advance Apple’s interests against Samsung in this litigation.”
Strong words! But it doesn’t stop there, Samsung wants Apple’s other two law firms to confirm that they haven’t received any Sasmung-specific confidential info from Bridges & Mavrakakis.
It’s hard to tell whether Samsung is raising a serious legal point, or just trying to throw a spanner in the works.
Apple is fighting legal battles on all fronts right now — recently it appealed for an injunction that would stop the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 being sold in the US, and it’s now locked in sweaty conflict with HTC. Jobs and co. claim that HTC infringes patents for things like app interfaces, list scrolling, touchscreen interfaces and so on.
We’re used to companies continually suing each other, but has this courtroom bickering gone too far? Should Apple be allowed to take anything with a pulse to court? Let us know in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.
