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Steve Jobs' 'thermonuclear' comments won't be part of Apple vs. Samsung patent lawsuit

Steve Jobs' 'thermonuclear' comments won't be part of Apple vs. Samsung patent lawsuit

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There was a small but interesting turn in the ongoing Apple vs Samsung lawsuit in northern California today. Judge Lucy Koh denied a Samsung request to include the statements Steve Jobs made to biographer Walter Isaacson

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Apple samsung patent
Apple samsung patent

There was a small but interesting turn in the ongoing Apple vs Samsung lawsuit in northern California today. Judge Lucy Koh denied a Samsung request to include the statements Steve Jobs made to biographer Walter Isaacson. Specifically (and famously), Jobs told Isaacson that "I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear on this."

Samsung contended that Jobs' comments were a sign that Apple wasn't actually in the case to protect its own intellectual property, but instead was using the case to attack a competitor. Samsung argued that the comments were indicative of "Apple's bias, improper motives[,] and its lack of belief in its own claims in that they are a means to an end, namely the destruction of Android."

"I really don't think this is a trial about Steve Jobs."

Apple, not surprisingly, argued that the statements shouldn't be part of the trial. In an earlier brief, Apple said that "Out-of-court statements by Mr. Isaacson about what Mr. Jobs allegedly said to his biographer are inadmissible hearsay irrelevant to any issue in this case." Koh sided with Apple, saying in court that "I really don't think this is a trial about Steve Jobs," according to Reuters.

The trial is scheduled to begin in earnest on July 30th.