Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Public Statements Concerning Benefits of Alleged Infringing Protocol do not Justify Deposition of Apple CEO Steve Jobs

The court denied plaintiff's motion to compel the deposition of Steve Jobs, defendant's CEO, to testify concerning his public statements about the accused products' use of the allegedly infringing protocol such as: "One of the next frontiers for a seamless digital music experience is the car. We all spend a lot of time driving, and now this elegant solution lets iPod users enjoy their entire music collection in their BMW or MINI." "Plaintiff's sole support for its claim that Mr. Jobs has unique, non-repetitive, firsthand knowledge is that he must know about the statements because he made them. None of the cases cited by [plaintiff], however, support the broad proposition that the requisite knowledge can be established by public statements alone. Even if Mr. Jobs has personal knowledge of the years-old statements and even if they were relevant to this case. . . [defendant's] other witnesses testified fully and consistently with the 11 statements on which [plaintiffs'] Motion is based."

Affinity Labs of Texas, LLC v. Apple, Inc., 4-09-cv-04436 (CAND May 9, 2011, Order) (Larson, M.J.)

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