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Apple v. Samsung retrial won't see Cook, Ive take the stand

The two companies file witness lists for the upcoming damages retrial. There won't be any CEOs on the stand.

Shara Tibken Former managing editor
Shara Tibken was a managing editor at CNET News, overseeing a team covering tech policy, EU tech, mobile and the digital divide. She previously covered mobile as a senior reporter at CNET and also wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. Shara is a native Midwesterner who still prefers "pop" over "soda."
Shara Tibken
5 min read
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Apple and Samsung will face off for yet another damages retrial in May -- but Tim Cook and Jony Ive won't be there.

The two companies on Monday filed their witness lists with the US District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose for their upcoming trial. The lists included industry experts and executives from both companies, but they don't include Apple's CEO or its head of design -- at least not in person.

Ive, Apple's chief design officer and the brains behind its most popular products, only appears on the witness list as testimony that Samsung may provide via deposition.  

joswiak

Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of product marketing, will testify on his company's behalf. 

James Martin/CNET

Apple declined to comment. Samsung didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Apple and Samsung are scheduled to meet in court starting May 14 to determine how much Samsung owes for infringing three Apple design patents. The new trial is just the latest battle in a long-running patent dispute between the two companies. They have been fighting for half a decade, and the new trial is the third in this case, alongside an initial August 2012 trial and a November 2013 damages retrial.

This particular case made it all the way to the Supreme Court in late 2016, which in a unanimous opinion said damages could be determined differently than in the past. That ruling reshaped the value of designs and how much one company may have to pay for copying the look of a competitor's product. Previously, an infringing "article of manufacture" was considered an entire device. Now, an article of manufacture can be only a small portion of a device, which would limit the amount of damages that can be awarded. 

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The highest court in the land didn't specify how to determine an article of manufacture, though, which resulted in the Apple v. Samsung case being punted back to the Northern California District Court for a second damages retrial.  

Samsung, during its testimony, will seek to show its article of manufacture that infringed Apple patents is only a small part of the entire device. Its witnesses plan to talk about the various pieces that go into a Samsung device, as well as the ability for consumers to take apart their phones, buy separate components and repair the devices. Apple, meanwhile, will seek to show that by infringing part of its design, it deserves damages for the entire phone's value. 

Apple's witnesses

Apple plans to call Richard Howarth, a senior director of the Apple Design Team and one of the co-inventors of the patents in question in the case. He will testify about the design process at Apple, the infringed design patents and other designs considered by Apple, among other topics. 

Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of product marketing, also will take the stand. Joswiak, who played a major role at Apple's March iPad launch, will talk about Apple's marketing strategy, the competitive market for smartphones and the importance of Apple's design patents for its devices, among other topics. 

Another notable witness for Apple is Susan Kare, an early designer at Apple who recently was named a recipient of the prestigious American Institute of Graphic Arts medal. She created many of the early icons for Apple's Macintosh computers, including its "Happy Mac" icon and trash can. Apple said she may testify about icon and user interface graphics design, as well as one of the patents in question in the case. 

Apple's expert witnesses are Ravin Balakrishnan, a professor of computer science at the University of Toronto; Alan Ball, an expert on industrial design; Julie Davis, a consultant with expertise in accounting and damages analysis; and Karan Singh, a professor of computer science at the University of Toronto. 

Apple may also call Tony Blevins, a vice president of procurement at Apple, to testify about its history, products, components, supply chain and procurement, and supplier relationships, among other topics. 

Samsung's slate

Samsung, meanwhile, will call Justin Denison, senior vice president of mobile product strategy and marketing at Samsung Electronics America, to talk about the repairability of Samsung's phones, as well as the company's "holistic design" strategy. He may talk about his trips to the repair facility near Samsung's North American headquarters where he saw phones being disassembled and reassembled and may describe the smartphone market and what drives people to buy Samsung phones. Denison is a familiar face during Samsung's Unpacked phone launches. 

Drew Blackard, a senior director of product marketing for Samsung Electronics America, will testify about what parts of Samsung's devices used the infringing Apple design patents. He also may talk about how some customers like to disassemble their phones and how easy they are to repair, as well as describe the smartphone market and talk about what gets people to buy phones. 

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Justin Denison, senior vice president of mobile product strategy and marketing at Samsung, will testify on Samsung's behalf during its damages retrial against Apple.

Getty Images

Samsung will also call Jinsoo Kim, a vice president in its Corporate Design Center who was involved in the design of Samsung's infringing phones. He may talk about Samsung's design process and explain how it has "pursued designs that are convenient for users" in terms of disassembling products. And Jee-Yeun Wang, another designer who was involved in Samsung's user interface design, will be called to talk about Samsung's software and its process for making new devices. 

Other executives Samsung plans to call to testify are Kyuhyun Han, an executive in Samsung's business operations group; Dongwook Kim; and Tim Sheppard, Samsung Electronics America's current vice president of supply chain logistics and its former vice president of finance and operations.

Samsung's expert witnesses are Sam Lucente to talk about what the article of manufacture should be and Michael Wagner to talk about Samsung's profits and the appropriate amount of damages owed. 

Witnesses Samsung may call to testify include Tim Benner, its senior director of marketing science and strategic analytics; Peter Bressler, a design expert Apple used at the initial trial; Steven Sinclair, a former iPhone product marketing manager; and Apple's executives Blevins, Howarth and Joswiak. 

First published April 23 at 2:59 p.m. PT. 
Update at 4:05 p.m. PT: Adds Apple declining to comment. 

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