Apple and HTC recently reached a legal settlement that included a ten year licensing deal, the details of which have remained private. Now, a U.S. court has ordered Apple to disclose details of this deal to Samsung. Samsung claimed that it needed the complete, unredacted version of the agreement to oppose Apple’s bid and a number of permanent injunctions.
Legal experts say that the details of the Apple and HTC deal and the patents covered in the settlement could be crucial in Samsung’s argument that a royalty settlement would be better than a permanent sales ban. Samsung argues that it’s “almost certain” the HTC deal involved some of the same patents involved in its own patent war with Apple.
HTC filed its own response to Samsung’s request, arguing that divulging the details of the settlement with Apple would harm the company, but the U.S. court was not persuaded otherwise.
The court officially ordered Apple to produce a full copy of the settlement agreement “without delay,” which is subject to an Attorneys-Eyes-Only designation. Apple and HTC had both previously agreed to disclose a version of the settlement with all the financial details redacted, but this was obviously refused.
Image Credit: Next Big Future
