Steve jobs said a lot of memorable things before he died, and some of those things are now being held against the Cupertino, California-based tech giant. Apple has tried to keep some of Jobs' "famous last words" out of an upcoming patent suit against Google's Motorola Mobility unit, but a judge has denied its request.
Apple and Motorola are scheduled for a high-profile legal battle over patents later this month, in a Chicago federal court. The trial is one of several intellectual property legal disputes between tech giants over devices using Google's Android operating system.
'Grand Theft'
Steve Jobs was Apple's notorious and iconic leader, the company's chief executive until he stepped down last year, shortly before his death. Jobs, however, had discussed Apple's patent litigation against Google with biographer Walter Isaacson, and said some heavy words. "Our lawsuit is saying, 'Google, you fu**ing ripped off the iPhone, wholesale ripped us off,'" Jobs told the biographer. "Grand theft."
"I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong," added Jobs. "I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this." Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs hit shelves last October.
Potential Prejudice
In a court filing last month, Apple reckoned that Jobs was "very angry" over Google's behavior, and asked to keep this quote, along with other details from Isaacson's biography, out of court in its current legal battle with Motorola Mobility.
"To avoid any potential prejudice to Apple if Motorola attempts to use the book to appeal to the jury's passion," reads the filing, according to Reuters. "Apple asks that the court prevent any reference to the Jobs book during the trial."
Chicago federal judge Richard Posner, however, rejected Apple's request in a brief order filed on Thursday, May 31, without offering additional explanations. Apple also has an upcoming patent trial against Samsung Electronics, and said it would make the same request to a California federal judge to keep Isaacson's book out of the litigation. The trial against Samsung is scheduled for July.
Not a Popularity Contest
In a separate order on Thursday, Reuters reports, Posner forbid Apple to argue that jurors should tend to favor Apple over Motorola if they admire Jobs or like Apple devices. "I forbid Apple to insinuate that to the jury that this case is a popularity contest," wrote Posner.
The case is Apple Inc. And NeXT Software Inc. V. Motorola Inc. and Motorola Mobility Inc., 11-cv-8540, in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois.
