iLounge

Apple has responded to a Samsung request to provide its lawyers with samples of its next-generation iPhone and iPad an “improper attempt to harass” Apple. FOSS Patents reports that Apple, in its response, argues that delivering such samples would result in the exposure of “extremely sensitive trade secrets,” that Apple is not claiming infringement of future products, but of current offerings, and that the request goes far beyond Apple’s own, which requested “expedited discovery” of Samsung products that, at the time of the request, had already been unveiled publicly. The report also notes that Samsung’s law firm, Quinn Emanuel, also represents a variety of Android device makers against Apple and others, and might therefore be able to make use of any confidential information on future Apple products to developer infringement cases that its clients could bring against Apple in a later stage.

Apple first sued Samsung this past April, claiming that products such as the Galaxy S 4G, Epic 4G, Nexus S, and Galaxy Tab copy the look and feel of the iPhone and iPad; Samsung quickly countersued in South Korea, Japan, and Germany, before filing a separate countersuit in the U.S.