JURIST - Paper Chase: Federal judge denies Samsung request to keep sales data sealed

[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court of Northern California [official website] on Monday denied a request by Samsung Electronics to keep sales data for some its products sealed in its long-running patent dispute with Apple [corporate websites]. Samsung had sought to delay [Bloomberg report] the implementation of a December 10 ruling by Judge Lucy Koh until its appeal is heard by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The order requires Samsung to file an exhibit which lists the total number of units of certain Samsung products sold during certain time periods. In addition, Koh denied a number of requests by both parties seeking to seal documents, stating that there was a lack of "compelling reason" that would require sealing. Samsung, in a separate order, was granted a request to delay publication of a document detailing the per-unit operating profit for two unidentified Samsung phones, pending Samsung's appeal of an earlier sealing order.

Apple and Samsung have been embroiled in continuous patent litigation in courts around the world. Last month Apple revealed an agreement [JURIST report] to withdraw patent claims against Samsung in the US District Court for Northern California for a new Samsung phone, Galaxy S III Mini, that the South Korea-based company said it was not offering for sale in the US market. In October the Dutch Rechtbank's-Gravenhage [official website] court ruled that Samsung did not infringe [JURIST report] an Apple software patent. That same month a UK court also ruled that Samsung did not infringe [JURIST report] an Apple design patent. In the same time frame Apple appealed a Tokyo District Court ruling [JURIST report] which dismissed the company's claim that Samsung had infringed its patents. At the beginning of October the Federal Circuit reversed an injunction [JURIST report] against Samsung that prevented it from selling its Galaxy Nexus. In August Apple won a $1.05 billion judgment [JURIST report] in the Northern District of California against Samsung involving other patent infringements.