Judge Will Let Samsung Lawyers See Apple HTC Patent Agreement

A US judge has ordered Apple and HTC to reveal details of their patent sharing agreement to Samsung.

The South Korean manufacturer had requested to see the settlement details agreed last week to aid the company in its ongoing patent war with Apple.

Apple and HTC’s ten-year agreement ended more than two years of hostilities between the companies which began when Apple accused HTC of infringing its patents around the ‘bounce-back’ document scrolling method and data detection. At the same time the Taiwanese manufacturer claimed Apple was using its 4G patents without a licence.

Apple HTC patent peace

Only ten percent of the agreement was made public, but HTC CEO Peter Chou said that suggestions the Taiwanese company was paying Apple £5 for every smartphone it sold were “outrageous.” It was suggested at the time that the Cupertino-based company was willing to settle with HTC so it could focus more on its arch-rival Samsung.

Samsung had argued the deal would cover some of the patents involved in its dispute with Apple, which said it had no problem revealing the details, but it would have to ask HTC first. HTC said that it was also willing, but objected to disclosing 33 words that set the license fees due under the agreement.

It said that the value of revealing the details to Samsung was less than the potential damage it would suffer if they were made public. Grewal ordered that the settlement be made available to Samsung’s attorneys, but not to the general public.

A US court ordered Samsung to pay Apple £600 million in damages for infringing on various Apple patents in the design of Samsung’s own tablet computers and smartphones.  Samsung is trying to overturn the verdict by arguing that Velvin Hogan, the jury foreman, failed to disclose litigation in which he was involved that could have indicated bias against Samsung.

A hearing is scheduled for 6 December in a California courthouse to hear Samsung’s argument that juror misconduct should prompt a judge to order a new trial.

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