Apple Pays Lawyers Nearly $1,200 An Hour During Patent Lawsuits

The Apple vs Samsung lawsuit has been ongoing for nearly a month now. Patent lawyers worked the case all the way up until late last week. Now the case is left up to the jury to decide.

Throughout this past month, jurors and even the judge have been educated by Apple and Samsung’s lawyers. Each side is in attempt to halt popular features from its competitor’s devices. In an Apple presentation, representatives of the company argued Samsung’s icons closely resemble the iPhone’s icons. Apple wants to wipe any similarities between its own phone and Samsung’s devices.

In Apple’s most recent case, the patent lawyers were paid $1,200 an hour to educate the jury and judges of “technology and arcane rules of law.”

Bloomberg has more:

Apple has spent more than $2 million on expert witnesses alone for a trial in its case against Samsung in federal court in San Jose, California, based on a compilation of what witnesses said they were being paid.

More stunning, check out what Steve Jobs once stated:

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs told his biographer he’d spend $40 billion if necessary on a “thermonuclear war” to prove that Android phones copy the iPhone.

The average patent case costs each company between $10 and $15 million, although an extended case involving numerous patents could cost $25 million a side. But that’s pocket change to Apple; they are capable of earning $32 million in just 6 hours of iPhone sales.

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