Google covering some Samsung defense costs in Apple case

Google has agreed to take over defense of some of Samsung’s claims in Apple’s current patent lawsuit, also agreeing to indemnify Samsung on potential losses from those claims, Re/Code reports. Though Google agreed to cover four patents, two were dropped from the case before the trial — remaining are the ‘414 and ‘959 patents, involving background synchronization and universal search. The information was revealed through Google attorney James Maccoun’s deposition testimony. As the report notes, “this was the first evidence shown to the jury that Google is playing a central role in the defense.”