A US district judge has ordered Apple and Samsung to limit the number of patent claims in a lawsuit scheduled to go on trial in 2014.
The judge told lawyers to limit themselves to 25 patent claims or infringed elements.
"We’ll keep narrowing and narrowing," the judge said.
"You’ve already been litigating this thing for a year; you must know something about what’s your best case."
The upcoming trial deals with the latest devices from both smartphone makers in addition to other different patents.
Apple recently added Samsung’s Galaxy Note smartphone and tablet computer to its ongoing patent lawsuits, while Samsung alleged that ‘all generations’ of Apple’s iPhone and iPads infringed about three of its patents.
Additionally, the US Court of Appeals has rejected Apple’s request to fast-track its bid to bar the sales of various Samsung Electronics phones.
Apple had won a $1.05bn verdict in August 2012 over the South Korean firm in a California trial court, in which the company sought a ban on several Samsung phones.
