Call it the legal equivalent of baseball’s seventh-inning stretch. San Jose District Court Judge Lucy Koh plans to get the courtroom in the Apple versus Samsung case on its feet later Tuesday in a bid to stave off sleep as the jury hears a mammoth set of instructions.
The final jury instructions run to 109 pages, the majority of which deal with issues of specific concern to the case.
“I need everyone to stay conscious during the reading of instructions, including myself, so we’re going to stand up occasionally to make sure the blood is still flowing,” she said ahead of what is expected to be the final day of arguments in the closely watched case.
The first third of the instructions deal with issues common to many civil cases, such as the jury’s duty to deliberate and how it should communicate questions with the court. Then there’s around 20 pages each of instructions on utility and design patents. There’s an equally long section on trade dress — the argument over the look and feel of devices and their packaging — and sections on willfulness and anti-trust.
The instructions are scheduled to be read to the jury on Tuesday afternoon after lawyers for Apple and Samsung complete their closing arguments.
Jurors have sat through hours of testimony from both sides and some members have occasionally looked less than riveted during dry arguments on patent specifics.
Jury deliberation is scheduled to begin as soon as the closing arguments are done and instructions have been read. Speaking earlier Tuesday, Koh said she thought it unlikely the jury would get down to deliberating Tuesday.
Martyn Williams covers mobile telecoms, Silicon Valley and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Martyn on Twitter at @martyn_williams. Martyn’s e-mail address is martyn_williams@idg.com