By now we’ve all heard what the late Steve Jobs had to say about Android. Specifically, these two quotes from Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs biography:
- “I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong.”
- “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”
In the upcoming trial between Apple and Motorola over a series of alleged smartphone patent violations, Apple lawyers had requested that these quotes, and any others from his biography, be excluded from testimony. On Thursday, federal Judge Richard Posner refused Apple’s request without explanation.
On Friday, the judge had this to say:
“More broadly, I forbid Apple to insinuate to the jury that this case is a popularity contest and jurors should be predisposed to render a verdict for Apple if they like Apple products or the Apple company or admire Steve Jobs, or if they dislike Motorola or Google.”
In other words, Posner is essentially saying that Apple should not try to influence jurors based on sentimentality over the late Steve Jobs, his popularity, or Apple’s.
The trial begins June 11 in the U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois.
source: gigaom