Samsung Hires Former U.K. Judge Who Slammed Apple

Posted 02/28/2013 at 1:52pm | by Paul Lilly

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Something tells us Apple isn't real happy about this.

Last year, a U.K. judge did more than just side with Samsung in a case brought against it by Apple. Judge Robin Jacob also ordered Apple to post a statement on on the front page of its website, as well as in newspapers and magazines, saying that Samsung had not copied Apple's design patent. It basically boiled down to a public apology, and eventually Apple was ordered to pay Samsung's lawyer's fees on an indemnity basis. Apple would go on to win a huge damages award in the U.S., but what of the U.K. judge? He now works for Samsung.

It's true, according to Foss Patents, which points out that at one point, former Judge Robin Jacob noted a "lack of integrity" on Apple's part.

"For someone so concerned with 'integrity' it is utterly unusual to issue a high-profile and extreme ruling in favor of a particular party (Samsung in this case) only to be hired as an expert by that same party in another dispute," Foss Patents writes.

Jacob had actually retired a year prior to Apple and Samsung duking it out in U.K. court, but under Section 9 of the Senior Courts Act of 1981, ex-judges can be invited to sit on the bench. So it was with Jacob, who handled the Samsung v Apple suit that made so many headlines.

Now just a few months later, Samsung has hired Jacob as one of nine legal experts in a patent infringement case filed by Ericsson against Samsung. Under U.K. law, he's not doing any illegal, even if it does raise a few eyebrows.

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