Samsung accuses Apple of influencing witnesses

Samsung counsel Katrina Howard has opened the second week of hearings on the patent dispute between Apple and Samsung in Australia by accusing Apple's lawyers of covertly meeting with experts, in order to change their minds on evidence already provided to the court.

An expert report on the three 3G patents that Samsung claims Apple infringed upon in the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, and iPad 2 was finalized on August 1. However, Howard today told the court that at 10 p.m. Sunday Australian Eastern Time, Samsung was served with a "joint errata expert report" seeking to change the views that two of the experts originally expressed.

Howard said that Samsung was aware of Apple lawyers meeting with at least one of the experts to change his mind, although two ultimately revised their views.

"Apple's lawyers convened a meeting, and the expert was asked to reconsider his views," Samsung's Howard told Justice Annabelle Bennett.

Howard said that the errata report should not have been filed last night -- and that if two of the experts have changed their views since the original report was filed, they should testify as to why.

Read more of "Samsung accuses Apple of leaning on expert witnesses" on ZDNet.