During the many, many lawsuits and court battles that Samsung and Apple have engaged in, there have been some occasions where each company has had access to private documents and information from the other company. Of course, that information should only ever be used in the context of the legal battles, but apparently Samsung had a different idea.
In one phase of Apple and Samsung’s patent fight, Apple gave Samsung confidential documents explaining their patent agreements with companies like Nokia, Ericsson, Sharp, and Philips. The court issued a protective order that was supposed to prevent Samsung from doing anything with those documents that wasn’t related to the lawsuit. According to Apple, Samsung leaked that information to roughly 90 employees and 130 unauthorized lawyers, which is a pretty big leak. Samsung executive Dr. Seungho Ahn attempted to use the information to strong-arm Nokia into a licensing agreement, but now that Nokia has joined Apple’s side in a motion for sanctions, I’m sure Samsung regrets the idea.
In their defense, Dr. Ahn said that “All information leaks,” and Samsung has stated that proper paper protocol wasn’t followed and they “deeply regret” the leaks. That sounds like a pretty weak legal defense, so there’s likely to be some major blowback on Samsung for this move. Judge Paul Grewal has asked Apple and Nokia to present recommendations for punishment and told Samsung to prepare some kind of legal defense. Considering Samsung hasn’t had the best luck in the world with these legal bouts, I’m not sure this one’s going to end in their favor.
source: The Verge
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