Apple succeeds in shutting out prying eyes

Journalists and the general public have been forced out of this afternoon's hearing in the patent case between Samsung and Apple, as Apple senior executive Richard Lutton Jr testified before the court.

Court resumed this afternoon in the case, which sees Apple trying to stop the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 being released into the Australian market because Apple believes it is in breach of patents it owns. Samsung continued to detail to the court its evidence for the case, before calling Lutton to the stand to testify about Apple's patents.

Lutton, who has been Apple's chief patent counsel, began his testimony, but quickly warned Justice Annabel Bennett that he risked breaching confidential negotiations between Samsung and Apple — initiated by Steve Jobs — over the patents in dispute.

Bennett ordered all people not directly involved in the case out of the court, including journalists.

Reuters reported in July that Lutton had left Apple after 10 years representing the company; however, it is unclear whether the senior executive is still in the role as chief patent counsel, which was said to be filled by HP IP counsel BJ Watrous.

Samsung has today again delayed the launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, pending a ruling by Bennett on whether sales should go ahead before a final patent case hearing. Apple is seeking for a final hearing next week, while Samsung is pushing for a hearing next year.

Samsung lead counsel David Catterns argued that it is "simply not realistic" to have the case heard before then, but is looking to get the Galaxy Tab 10.1 released to the Australian market soon, as he said that Samsung is losing credibility with resellers and telecommunications companies due to the delay.