The most shocking revelation to come out of jury selection for the latest Apple-versus-Samsung trial isn’t that the Silicon Valley jury pool is loaded with people connected to one of the two companies. It’s that one potential juror claims ignorance when it comes to Apple’s nearly ubiquitous tablet.
“I’m kind of a dinosaur,” said one potential juror Monday. “I don’t even know what a iPad is.”
We could understand if they had never heard of the Galaxy Tab. But with hundreds of millions of iPads sold, and Apple spending tons of advertising dollars, it’s almost impossible to imagine anybody could be completely clueless about the device.
Judge Lucy Koh is overseeing jury selection in the San Jose, California, courtroom as the latest chapter of the patent battle between Apple and Samsung unfolds. Apple wants $2 billion in damages, claiming in the lawsuit that Samsung’s devices violate five patents. Samsung accuses Apple of similar wrongs.
So far, it has been difficult to find potential jurors without conflicts of interest.
Several candidates have been dismissed for owning shares in Apple or Samsung, but tweets from observers have turned up other, more interesting, tidbits about the jury pool:
Only two out of ~25 potential jurors have read Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs bio. Only one saw Ashton Kutcher in “Jobs.” Ouch. #AppSung — Josh Lowensohn (@Josh) March 31, 2014
What 1 potential juror gleaned from Apple biopic: ““That Steve Jobs was an interesting character and he was pretty angry about Androids.” — Julia Love (@SFjlove) March 31, 2014
“I own 1,000 shares of Apple” says potential juror. Nice. That’s about $536,000 worth as of today. #iCourt
— Mike Swift (@Swiftstories) March 31, 2014
Prospective juror from Microsoft says he’s never used Android phone. He had an iPhone in the past. He’s rocking sweet flip-flops. #icourt
Juror owns over 1K shares of Apple. Koh: “So if Apple wins, your shares will increase?” Juror: “I hope so!” #iCourt And he’s excused.
— Mike Swift (@Swiftstories) March 31, 2014
— Daisuke Wakabayashi (@daiwaka) March 31, 2014
One potential juror’s got a Samsung cooking range. That device will likely be implicated in #icourt VII.
— Julia Love (@SFjlove) March 31, 2014
One prospective juror says “I’m kind of a dinosaur. I don’t even know what a iPad is.” Does that make him a good or bad juror? #icourt
— Daisuke Wakabayashi (@daiwaka) March 31, 2014
