Apple's Expert Witness Cost Them $75k "So Far"
Last night we reported on the testimony of perhaps the most important witness to the trial of Apple vs Samsung here in the USA so far, industrial designer peter Bressler – now we're hearing how much it cost Apple to have him testify. It's important to note that the entirety of the $75,000 USD payed to Bressler by Apple thus far is entirely legal as our US court system does indeed allow for an expert witness to be paid for their help on a trial, and that Bressler does advertise himself as an "expert witness" on a broken-down website pointed out by Samsung in the case. It's also worth mentioning that there's a much nicer representation of the man up at BresslerGroup.com, another site and company that Bressler is a part of.
The reason Samsung brings up the point that Apple has indeed payed Bressler to come to the witness stand is not to point out the possible flaw in the court system, but to accuse Apple of unfairly angling the jury using a witness with high credentials. We're all human, Samsung is essentially saying, and even though this man has 70 design patents that he's co-authored and has been an expert witness on several other trials, he might not be trustworthy. Of course Samsung would never come out and say such a thing, leaving such deliberation to the jury.
Now we must ask you, readers, what you think of the situation. Does it make sense for a man to be payed for doing research that he then brings to the witness stand in a trial like this? Does Samsung have the right to suggest that Apple should not be allowed to bring a paid witness to the stand?
Samsung's representation Charles Verhoeven asked Bressler: "How much has Apple paid you so far?" Bressler replied: "So far? In this case, $75,000".
Do you expect that Samsung wont be bringing in their own expert witnesses that are also being payed by them? I think you know the answer to that question, if none of the above. Now we've only to wait to see what kind of effect pointing out Bressler's completely legal $75,000 USD and growing paycheck is going to have on the jury as they move through this weeks-long trial.
Have a peek at our timeline below on the trial to see what's been happening over the past week and a half!
[via TechCrunch]