The Apple versus Samsung patent showdown explained

Did Apple rip off Samsung's intellectual property to create the iPhone, or did Samsung pilfer Apple's patents when it took on the iPad and iPhone with a slew of mobile devices and tablets?
Those are the burning questions at issue in the biggest trial so far in the ongoing worldwide mobile phone patent war that's broken out between Apple, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Samsung, HTC, Motorola and others.
Apple and Samsung, both competitors and business partners, have been jousting over the issue for more than a year, in what's really a proxy war between Apple and Google. But after 1,400 court docket entries, on Monday, in a San Jose, California, federal court, a nine-member jury is expected to be chosen to resolve the dispute in a highly anticipated patent and anti-trust trial.
At stake is billions of dollars in penalties, possible bans on imports of flagship consumer gadgets, and even whether Samsung will remain the world's foremost electronics producer of smartphones. Apple intends to push for more injunctions blocking the U.S. sale of the South Korea-based company's phones and tablets that are powered by Google's Android operating system.
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh has already blocked the Galaxy Nexus, the flagship Google phone, from being sold in the United States, but the decision has been stayed on appeal. Apple claims the Galaxy Nexus infringes its patents via "the core voice and search functionality within Android." Koh also blocked the U.S. sale of Samsung's initial iPad rivals, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 -- as has Germany, on the grounds it resembles the iPad too closely. (However, a British judge disagreed, saying the Tab was "not as cool" as the iPad.)
The two technology powerhouses, armed with an army of lawyers charging an average of more than $500 an hour, might reach a deal before or even after jury selection begins.
But for the moment, it's a war of words between Samsung and the Cupertino-based Apple, each accusing the other of outright theft of intellectual property ranging from Apple's designs and scrolling technology to Samsung's 3G transmission functionality. The litigation theater is playing itself out on stages in at least eight countries, including Britain, Germany and Australia.
Apple, in seeking as much as $2.5 billion in damages, said Samsung "chose to compete by copying Apple." Samsung countered that without Samsung's patented technology, Apple "could not have become a successful participant in the mobile telecommunications industry." Samsung says that Apple's innovations come from its uncanny ability to commercialize technology, not from revolutionary engineering or design. Samsung, which has been making mobile phones for more than two decades, also says it has phone-design documents for a slab-like touchscreen phone that predates the iPhone.
Some legal experts suggest the legal flap might involve intellectual property that should never have been patented.
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