Apple recently decided to drop all current disputes with HTC as it signed into a ten-year patent licensing deal. Because of this, HTC will be forced to pay Apple a set amount of money for each phone it sells to have protection against more lawsuits from Apple. While we may never know the terms of this deal, it looks as if Samsung will. Judge Paul S. Grewal has just published a court order that forces Apple to tell Samsung the details of its settlement with HTC. We’ve embedded part of the order below:
“Accordingly, Samsung’s motion to compel production of an unredacted version of the settlement agreement is GRANTED. Apple shall produce the unredacted document without delay subject to an Attorneys-Eyes-Only designation under the protective order already in place in this case.”
Why is this of significance? According to Boy Genius Report, Samsung was originally offered by HTC’s lawyers to view a shortened, 33-word version of HTC’s agreement with Apple. Samsung could end up trying to take a similar route to settle with Apple, although we’re doubtful that Apple would agree to such a deal with them.
