Apple and Samsung have been legally sparring since April, but the real action is just beginning: Samsung will have four key iPhone engineers sit for depositions by the end of the month, including Apple senior vice president of design Jony Ive. The deposition will help the attorneys plan what questions to ask the witnesses in front of the jury at trial next year, and each one here was chosen for his involvement in designing the look and feel of the iPhone — one of the major issues in the case. The deposition deadline is December 1st — Samsung actually asked for an extension after Apple's people were unavailable this past month. We'll see if anything from these sessions ever becomes public, or if all these meetings between lawyers generate a friendly settlement.