Samsung in trouble for leaking Apple’s patent-licensing agreements
As Samsung and Apple’s court battle finally comes towards it’s final days (yes I’m kidding), the Korean company finds itself in more hot water as the presiding judge has asked them to explain why it shouldn’t be fined for leaking Apple’s patent-licensing agreements to a large number of employees and unauthorized lawyers.
In the coming days, the two companies will fight it out over the exact sum that Samsung should be made to pay Apple, after the controversial initial amount of $1 billion was brought down to just over $450 million. While this amount deals with only the patents and trademarks in question, Samsung’s antics could see an additional fine on top of that.
Despite my extreme distaste for Apple’s practices, I can’t help but feel awful because of Samsung’s behavior throughout the issue. In this particular case, Samsung tried to benefit from the information they received from Apple as part of legal discovery for the case by using it in negotiations with Nokia, despite a court order against it. One executive, Dr. Seungho Ahn, was cocky enough to say to Nokia’s Chief Intellectual Property Officer, “all information leaks.”