Believe it or not, the 2012 trial in which Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), won nearly $1.1 billion in damages from Samsung, because of copying iPhone, is going to start again in California for a retrial of part of the damages awarded. Yesterday, the trial judge and the lawyers of the two parties managed to choose the 8 members of the jury, they will decide the final amount that Samsung will have to pay, or if it will be awarded.
74 people were called for the jury selection process for the new trial between Apple and Samsung, and most of them were eliminated either because they had relatives who worked at the companies, or other partners, or because they hated them, or loved them. The interesting part is that at least one juror expressed some frustrations about the Apple company before being eliminated from the selection process, but these things happen quite often in other processes as well.
Samsung vs. Apple: iPhone Copying Process Begins Again with Trouble
Almost half of all those who were called for the selection process own an iPhone, and this can make things quite difficult for those from Samsung, who are trying to eliminate as many Apple fans as possible. For now, only this jury selection procedure has been carried out, but since the people have been chosen, the trial will soon go to trial, and from there it probably won't take very long until a verdict is reached.
"More than half a dozen times, US District Judge Lucy Koh excused potential jurors in the case because they owned Apple stock. As she tried to find eight jurors from among 74 candidates on Monday, three were excused because their spouses worked at Apple or a Samsung subsidiary."
Apple has already collected nearly $550 million from Samsung as a result of the initial decision by which a jury determined that Apple's patents were infringed by the Koreans. The rest up to almost 1.1 billion dollars has not been paid and for 6 years Samsung still manages to avoid paying the amount, but maybe this last game will complete this very long process.
