Apple v. Samsung: The Patent Trial of the Century

Samsung Electronics recently leapfrogged Apple as the world's largest seller of smartphones. But whether Samsung got to the top legally or, as Apple claims, cheated its way there by ripping off the designs behind Apple's iPhone and iPad, is a question that jurors will decide in the kind of roll-the-dice trial that even the fiercest rivals typically try to avoid.

Barring a last-minute settlement, the trial is slated to start on June 30 inside a concrete federal courthouse in San Jose (CA). The case will test some of the central claims of design theft and patent infringement made in courts around the world by Apple and makers of smartphones and tablets powered by Android, the mobile software platform owned by Google.