Apple lawyer faces 'smoking crack' jibe by patent judge

Judge Koh became frustrated when Apple's lawyer
suggested he could call 22 witnesses in four hours

The judge in a high profile US patent trial involving Apple and Samsung has said the iPhone maker's lawyer must be on drugs if he thought she would accept his list of potential witnesses.

William Lee had named 22 people he wanted to rebut testimony given by Samsung's choice of experts.

"Unless you're smoking crack you know these witnesses aren't going to be called" said Judge Lucy Koh.

Mr Lee replied: "Your honour, I'm not smoking crack. I can promise you that."

The clash, reported by the Verge news site, took place close to the end of the trial after Mr Lee presented a 75-page document detailing the witnesses.

The judge had previously made it clear she wanted closing arguments to be presented next week. She has given each side a maximum of 25 hours to make its case.

Of that time Apple has less than four hours of witness testimony remaining on its clock, and Mr Lee said he honestly believed he could cover all the people he had named within that period.

The move could potentially have made it harder for Samsung's legal team to prepare.

-  BBC.co.uk