Apple and Samsung’s trial kicks off in a federal district court in San Jose, California today.

The court documents filed for the trial have revealed some interesting details. Apple has made an argument in favor of its “Samsung copied Apple stance” using statements made by both, Samsung and Google, where as Samsung has claimed that iPhone’s design was inspired by Sony products. 

Apple has refuted Samsung’s claim in the latest court documents. It has revealed prototype “Purple” that seems to look like the iPhone 4s/iPhone and was created back in August 2005, before Apple industrial designer Shin Nishibori was directed to prepare a “Sony-like” design for an Apple phone.

In the court document Apple insists that it did not use any of the design elements from Nishibori’s “Sony-like” detailing.

In the end, nothing came of Mr. Nishibori’s “Sony-style” detailing. First, none of its “buttons and switches” was adopted into the iPhone design. (APLNDC-NCC282-286; DX623. Second, iPhone designs both before and after the Nishibori exercise embodied a 6 symmetrical aesthetic, with centered displays and menu buttons. In contrast, Nishibori’s desig  places the screen above center to make room for distinctive Sony-style diagonal buttons, and adds these asymmetrical buttons and a jog-wheel to the right side of the device. Third, Mr. Nishibori’s design features a protruding speaker element, as shown above and in the side view below, which is inconsistent with the flat front surface of Apple’s iPhone designs before and after Mr. Nishibori’s exercise. 

Apple has also included the chronological progression of iPhone’s design in the latest court document.

Samsung’s main objective is to establish  that there is prior art enough to undermine Apple’s claims that it “slavishly copied” the iPhone. But by revealing the “Purple” iPhone prototype, which predates Sony’s art Apple is trying to quash Samsung’s copy claim.

It is interesting to note the “Purple” iPhone prototype reveals that the iPhone 4S (released last year) and iPhone 4 (released in 2010) design was conceptualized back in 2005 (though it lacks the Home button).

The trial that starts later today would surely pack in a lot of action. As always, we’ll keep you updated with the latest from the trial.