Judge Lucy Koh couldn’t take it anymore after seeing a 75-page rebuttal witness list from Apple in court Thursday, saying that Apple lawyer Bill Lee must be “smoking crack” to offer such a lengthy list for the what remains of the 25 hours each side has to make their case to the court.
As CNET reported, Koh’s outburst ran as follows: “I mean, come on. Seventy-five pages! Seventy-five pages! You want me to do an order on 75 pages, (and) unless you're smoking crack, you know these witnesses aren’t going to be called when you have less than four hours.”
In response, Lee said he was not, in fact, smoking crack.
Time is ticking down for Apple and Samsung as the two companies slug it out in court, and Koh’s patience is clearly wearing thin.
In her live coverage of the trial, All Things Digital reporter Ina Fried said that Koh, who has asked the companies’ chief executives to meet again to discuss a settlement, said Thursday that she was “pathologically optimistic” about the prospect of avoiding a verdict.
A lot is at stake in the trial, as Apple and Samsung argue over intellectual property matters. Koh said that she could see negative consequences for both sides if the jury decides the outcome of the case and has repeatedly encouraged both sides to “trade” in order to find a mutually agreeable outcome.
Samsung, as Fortune’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt pointed out, has a lot to gain by cutting a deal, since the jury could decide to have the company’s products banned, though Samsung could tweak its products to avoid future conflicts. Apple has less to lose, though it would probably like to see a strong precedent sent on how much it can protect its trademarks and designs.
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