Apple Gets Early Access to Unreleased Samsung Prototypes Over Copy Infringement

The legal battle between Apple and Samsung has taken a new ride. Apple is suing the Korean corporation over alleged copying the “look and feel” of the iPhone and iOS with its Galaxy range, and a federal court is forcing Samsung to hand over samples of new phones for Apple to pore over. Only Apple’s legal team for this case will see the products, so no-one from Apple or even Apple’s in-house lawyers will see the rival devices.

Samsung Galaxy S 2 and Infuse 4G are on sale now, the other three devices Droid Charge, Galaxy Tab 8.9 and Galaxy Tab 10.1 aren’t yet on the market. As noted by Cnet UK

Apple’s legal battle with Samsung has taken a new twist. The California outfit is suing the Korean corporation over alleged copying of Apple products in Samsung’s Android range, and a federal court is forcing Samsung to hand over samples of new phones for Apple to pore over.

Normally, there’d be three months before Samsung had to hand over samples, but San Jose Judge Lucy Koh has decided that Samsung has already been shooting its mouth off about the unreleased phones and can’t claim they’re secret models, Courthouse News reports. Apple points out that Samsung even gave away a Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet to all 5,000 people at the recent Google I/O developer conference.

Apple claims Samsung is causing confusion in the minds of the phone-buying public by copying the look and feel of the iPhone and iPad in the design of phones and tablets, the interface and even the packaging. Samsung even has its own version of the iPod touch, which strips out the phone functions — the Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 and Galaxy S WiFi 4.0.