Android engineer testifies Google didn’t copy Apple

The second patent infringement trial between Apple and Samsung continued Friday in a Northern California court with Judge Lucy Koh presiding. The highlight of the day was testimony by Google’s Android engineering VP Hiroshi Lockheimer, who testified on behalf of Samsung, reports Re/Code. Lockheimer testified that Google did not copy Apple when it designed its Android OS, noting that he first saw a demo of Android in January 2006, a year before the original iPhone was announced. At that time, the Android team was deliberately small with only 20 to 30 people working very long hours on the software. “Very intentionally, we kept the team very small,” Lockheimer said. Lockheimer testified that Android, too, was the product of long hours and hard work. “The hours were pretty grueling,” Lockheimer said, speaking of the early days of Android as the operating system was being developed in 2006 and 2007. “They continue to be grueling by the way. … We work really hard.” Lockheimer’s testimony was similar to that of Apple’s VP Greg Christie, who worked on the UI for the early versions of the iPhone software. Christie discussed his work on Apple’s “slide-to-unlock” feature, which is one of the patents included in the infringement case. Lockheimer was testifying forf Samsung as the first witness in the defense part of the case. Apple rested its case earlier on Friday, with damages expert Chris Vellturo arguing why Samsung should be assessed up to $2 billion in damages for infringing on five Apple patents. Continue reading →

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