In recent developments of the lawsuit between Apple and Samsung, the latter was granted permission to view confidential details of the agreement made between the former and HTC, following an impromptu hearing ordered by Magistrate Judge Singh Grewal. The deal, announced earlier this month, had ended all litigation between Apple and HTC, and Samsung had made a request to view a copy of this patent licensing agreement in order to confirm whether there was an overlap in the patents licensed by Apple and HTC and the patents discussed in its own lawsuit with Apple.
Some of the patents Samsung was specifically interested in were ‘381 and ‘915, which pertained to the ‘bounce back’ feature as well as scrolling and zooming facilities. According to one of Samsung’s lawyers, analysing the patents listed in the agreement was crucial in determining whether any irreparable harm had been caused to their client’s business and, if so, what degree of ‘monetary remedies’ would be required to sufficiently compensate their client’s losses.
Apple and HTC have agreed to provide Samsung with a copy of the agreement, provided that the agreement remains privy to Samsung’s attorneys only and that numerous details, particularly financial ones regarding royalty rates, are redacted from the document. However, Judge Grewal disallowed the proposed condition stating that the document was subject to an Attorneys-Eyes-Only designation and that Samsung’s outside counsel had given no reasons to be distrusted, as acknowledged by HTC. In the ruling, the judge explicitly mentioned that the court could not allow the two companies to serve a modified document with redacted financial details when only the attorneys had access to it and there was no real threat of Samsung being privy to confidential details. He also added that the confidential financial terms in question were highly pertinent to the present case and he could not allow these terms to be redacted from the document if it was to be relevant in court.
In less than a month, Samsung and Apple are due to return to court for a hearing to settle the appeals in the August jury verdict, which had resulted in Apple’s billion dollar settlement win against Samsung, a motion pushed by Apple to have eight of Samsung’s devices permanently banned in the United States, and a counter-motion by Samsung to have the entire trial thrown out. Many are wondering whether Samsung and Apple will be able to eventually settle a deal with each other, reminiscent of Apple’s deal with HTC, but comments made by officials and representatives of the South Korean tech giant have strongly suggested otherwise.
