Law360 - "Apple-Samsung Jurors May Rely On Instinct Instead Of Law"

Leading up to the jury verdict in the Apple-Samsung trial, many IP experts speculated about what the outcome would be and why. Alexander Poltorak correctly surmised that the jurors would be influenced more by which side had the best narrative than by the 109 pages of jury instructions they were given. ("Apple-Samsung Jurors May Rely On Instinct Instead Of Law" Law360.com - August 21, 2012)

Article excerpt: After three weeks of testimony, the nine-member jury was instructed for over two hours Tuesday on the nuances of utility and design patents, trade dress, breach of contract and antitrust law before starting to consider whether Apple and Samsung infringed each other's smartphone intellectual property.

Despite that wealth of detail, the case will likely boil down to which narrative jurors found more compelling: Apple's claim that Samsung ripped off the design of the iPhone or Samsung's claim that Apple's simple designs shouldn't be patented, attorneys said.

"Juries tend to simplify the case. That's a natural tendency," said Alexander Poltorak, CEO of the patent licensing and enforcement firm General Patent Corp. "They want to figure out who is the bad guy here and let's punish them."

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