Apple, Samsung trial opens with no common ground

Apple and Samsung delivered one common message to a federal court jury on July 31 — when it comes to their competing claims of patent rights in the world of smartphones and tablets, they agree on absolutely nothing.

During nearly a day of opening statements, lawyers for the two warring tech titans offered their conflicting views of what will unfold for the seven-man, two woman jury over the next four weeks. To Apple's lawyer, the case is about Samsung's rampant copying of the iPhone and iPad, which he told jurors has cost the Silicon Valley icon billions of dollars that it will seek in damages. "At its highest corporate levels, Samsung decided to simply copy every element of the iPhone," Apple attorney Harold McElhinny said at one point. "Samsung had two choices -- accept the challenge of the iPhone ... and beat Apple fairly in the marketplace, or it could copy Apple. It is easier to copy than innovate." To Samsung's lawyer, the trial will expose how Apple has overstated its innovation in the hotly competitive smartphone and tablet market. Samsung flatly denies copying Apple, insisting it has merely done what scores of companies have done -- evolve with its own products. "It's not just Samsung," Samsung attorney Charles Verhoeven explained about why smartphones exploded into the marketplace. "The entire industry moved this way. Is that copying? No. It's competition."