Apple seeks 'emergency' sanctions against Samsung

Apple is not happy with Samsung's explanation for why it published excluded evidence outside of court yesterday.

In a letter to U.S. district court judge Lucy Koh this afternoon, Apple's counsel William Lee said the company found Samsung's letter to the court-- which was filed by John B. Quinn of Samsung's law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan earlier today -- to be unsatisfactory.

"Mr. Quinn's declaration does not adress two of the Court's questions: who drafted the statement and who released it," Lee wrote. "Samsung's multiple references to the jury in its statement make plain its intent that the jurors in our case learn of arguments the Court has excluded through the press."

As a result Lee says Apple will file an "emergency motion for sanctions" as well as "other relief that may be appropriate."

In other words, Apple wants Samsung to get in trouble for what it thinks is not playing by the rules in court. What exactly that penalty will be will be laid out in Apple's subsequent filing.

The evidence in question were slides of Samsung phone designs, as well as an excerpt from the deposition of former Apple designer Shin Nishibori. In its statement yesterday sent to CNET and other news outlets, Samsung said the "excluded evidence would have established beyond doubt that Samsung did not copy the iPhone design."

The squabble is the latest between the two companies during the case. The two sides spent a considerable portion of the first two days of court vying for various parts of evidence to be included, or excluded from opening statements as well as testimony. The case picks back up on Friday witha continuation of the testimony of Apple SVP Phil Schiller.

Copy of the letter is below: