Samsung accused of document destruction in US case vs Apple

Just five days before the trial will take place between Apple and Samsung over a collection of patents and possible device design infringements, Samsung has been accused of failing to avoid auto-deleting email evidence. In this case it appears that Apple is seeking evidence which would have been in Samsung's email archives if Samsung had not had a "rolling basis" for deleting old documents. U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal agreed with Apple's request that jurors should be informed that they can draw "adverse inference" from Samsung's failure to avoid deleting the files in question.

As both Apple and Samsung are two of the largest device creators in today's $219 billion dollar mobile industry, it stands to reason that even the smallest detail will be analyzed in this case which has the two at arms with one another. The instructions that have been handed to the jury before the trial begins appears to say with some certainty that there were indeed documents that Apple said existed and that Samsung did indeed have them auto-deleted rather than saving them specifically.

"Rather than building itself an off-switch — and using it — in future litigation such as this one, Samsung appears to have adopted the alternative approach of 'mend it don't end it. Samsung's mend, especially during the critical seven months after a reasonable party in the same circumstances would have reasonably foreseen this suit, fell short of what it needed to do." – Grewal

Grewal's instructions for the jury included the following:

"Samsung has failed to prevent the destruction of relevant evidence for Apple's use in this litigation. ... The lost evidence was favorable to Apple. ... You may choose to find it determinative, somewhat determinative, or not at all determinative in reaching your verdict." – Grewal

Stay tuned as the Apple vs Samsung case begins on the 30th of this month here in the USA. Check the timeline below as well to keep up to date with everything that's surrounded these two titans and their court cases with one another over the past few weeks.

[via Bloomberg]