Apple: We knew little of jury foreman in Samsung case
Following the massive $1.05 billion patent ruling against Samsung earlier this year, the company is understandably doing all it can to keep from having to hand the cash to Apple. One such effort involved a thorough investigation of the jury foreman of the case, Velvin Hogan, and an allegation that Apple may have known that a potential bias against Samsung would be an issue. As Ars Technica reports, Apple's official response is essentially that the company knew nearly nothing of the foreman's prior dealings.
Hogan's prior business dealings led him to be sued by Seagate Technology, a company that is now partially owned by Samsung. He was forced to file bankruptcy as a result. Hogan also happens to be a patent holder himself. The foreman apparently withheld these crucial details prior to the trial and, according to other jurors, Hogan spoke at length of his own patent dealings during deliberations.
Apple, for its part, knew very little of Hogan's prior business woes before or during its legal standoff with Samsung. Apple disclosed that the only portion of Hogan's history that it uncovered was that he had filed bankruptcy, but Cupertino's lawyers didn't even bother to pull the court file associated with the case. This dashes Samsung's hopes that it could prove Apple knew of the foreman's possible bias before the trial, but the company's attack on Hogan's credibility will likely remain intact.
