Verizon, the largest U.S. wireless carrier, Verizon, asked a federal court on Sept. 23 for permission to file an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in support of Samsung against Apple, and provided its proposed brief at the same time. Now Apple has asked the court to throw out the proposed brief or alternatively let Apple respond by a deadline that minimizes disruption of the process, reports “FOSS Patents.”
Verizon said that Apple’s request for a US-wide preliminary injunction against four Samsung products (the Infuse 4G, Galaxy S 4G and Droid Charge smartphones, and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer), arguing that such a decision would run counter to the public interest. It “would hinder Verizon Wireless in developing and deploying its next generation high-speed LTE [fourth-generation] network, the job growth dependant on that network, and will undercut key public policy goals, including expansion of American’s [sic] access to broadband networks and faster communication with emergency personnel,” Verizon said.
According to Apple, Verizon’s submission “would have been untimely by several weeks” even if it had been submitted in an appellate court, where such a brief should be filed “no later than 7 days after the principal brief of the party being supported,” notes “FOSS Patents.” Samsung filed its reply to Apple’s motion for a preliminary injunction on August 22, so Verizon’s amicus brief would have been due by the end of August.
Read more at http://macte.ch/RGNrf .