Samsung denies tech theft from Apple at Calif. trial

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- An attorney for Samsung Tuesday denied the company had stolen technology from Apple, saying the South Korean tech giant's mobile devices contain Android software packages designed entirely by Google engineers.

Samsung attorney Peter Quinn told jurors in his opening statement at the patent infringement trial that Apple is a great company but doesn't own everything.

If Apple prevails in U.S. District Court in San Jose, the cost to Samsung could top $2 billion. Apple's costs, if it loses the litigation, were expected to be about $6 million. The trial marks the latest round in a long-running, worldwide series of lawsuits between the two tech giants over mobile devices.

Quinn told jurors that Apple's gripe is with Android, a Google-developed smartphone operating system that now makes up about 70 percent of the global market. "Not one of the accused features on this phone was designed, much less copied, by anyone at Samsung," Quinn said.

Apple's lawyer Harold McElhinny countered that "this case is not about Google. It is Samsung that has made the decision to copy these features . . . Samsung went far beyond competitive intelligence and crossed into the dark side of intentionally copying." -- AP