Apple Inc. (AAPL) vs. Samsung: Google Inc (GOOG), Hand Over Your Code!

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is continuing its relentless pursuit of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its “thermonuclear” proxy war that was essentially encouraged by the late Steve Jobs, who believed that Google was absolutely swiping Apple innovations to make the Android operating system.  Well, one of the largest battles in that greater war between the tech giants is entering a second phase, and Apple wants to go after Google directly.

After Apple Inc. won an initial $1 billion judgement against Samsung for patent infringement in a U.S. courtroom last summer – an award that has since been reduced to about $640 million – Apple is back at it with a second lawsuit against Samsung, claiming more patent infringement joy. This time, however, Apple is taking a new tactic in the battle by leaving Google Inc out of the initial lawsuit and instead drawing it in by requesting the company’s Android source code as part of discovery from Samsung. Apple claims that the source code is really at the heart of the Samsung devices’ functionality and where the main source of the patent infringements occur.

Keeping Google Inc out of the initial case filing reduces the legal rights or options that Google might have in terms of discovery and providing certain documents, and Google is claiming that Apple Inc. made a “strategic decision” to leave Google out of the legal proceeding. in order to make a play for the source code documents, which may open up new avenues of legal pursuit that Apple may not have considered before.

Apple Inc. is claiming only that the source code tells the story about the Android operating system, which runs on all of the Samsung products that are alleged to be infringing on Apple patents, and that it sees the source code as the basis for the functionality of the Samsung handsets, and thus are important in determining the depth and breadth of any infringement – whether this is solely within the handset and its design, or whether it is contained within the operating system.

What are your thoughts about these legal wranglings? Is this much ado about nothing, or does this Apple Inc. vs. Google Inc proxy battle affect the tech industry as a whole? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.