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Judge says Apple's 'smoking crack' with giant witness list

The judge in the case between Apple and Samsung once again loses her cool, chiding Apple for lining up too many last-minute witnesses.

Josh Lowensohn Former Senior Writer
Josh Lowensohn joined CNET in 2006 and now covers Apple. Before that, Josh wrote about everything from new Web start-ups, to remote-controlled robots that watch your house. Prior to joining CNET, Josh covered breaking video game news, as well as reviewing game software. His current console favorite is the Xbox 360.
Josh Lowensohn
2 min read
U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh, presiding over the case between the two companies.
U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh, presiding over the case between the two companies.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Tempers boiled over in court this morning, with the judge in the case between Apple and Samsung flat out yelling at Apple for trying to book too many witnesses in its last few hours.

"I am not going to be running around trying to get 75 pages of briefings for people who are not going to be testifying," U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh told Apple's lawyer Bill Lee.

"I mean come on. 75 pages! 75 pages! You want me to do an order on 75 pages, (and) unless you're smoking crack, you know these witnesses aren't going to be called when you have less than four hours," Koh said.

"Your honor, I can assure you, I'm not smoking crack," Lee replied matter-of-factly.

The comments come as both sides are crunched for time. Each company gets 25 hours to make their case. Samsung is down to its last hour and a half, with Apple at six and a half -- time it plans to use cross-examining Samsung's witnesses and bringing up its own experts to rebut some of Samsung's claims. After that, the two companies get two hours for their closing arguments, something Koh threatened to shorten if both sides keep filing more paperwork.

Inside the Apple v. Samsung courtroom (sketches)

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In Apple's case, the company wants to bring up more than 20 witnesses to go up against some of the testimony Samsung has presented over the past few days. Samsung took the offense after Apple rested its case.

Koh's blow-up is just the latest in recent days. Earlier this week she told both companies that she didn't trust any information that came from either side's lawyers, asking instead to see papers. Yesterday she followed that up by saying that the two companies were filing too much, and that she and her staff were completely overwhelmed with the piles of paperwork from Apple and Samsung's "legion of lawyers."

Watch this: Inside Scoop: The latest on the Apple v. Samsung trial

"If it turns out I went through 75 pages for people who are not going to be called, I am going to think of a proper tax for that," Koh warned.

Complete coverage: Apple v. Samsung, a battle over billions