Samsung forced to reveal sales data in Apple patent dispute
Summary: In a patent dispute with rival Apple, Samsung wil be forced to reveal sales data it wished to keep hidden.
In a patent dispute with rival Apple, Samsung will be forced to reveal sales data it wished to keep hidden, a court has ruled.
According to Bloomberg, U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh -- who has overseen many of the formal disputes between both electronics firms -- ruled that Samsung must reveal specific device sales numbers for a variety of its products.
The ruling means that Samsung's earlier request to keep the information concealed has been denied, and Apple's request to see the information following a $1.05 billion win for the iPad and iPhone maker has been successful. Apple requested to see the figures as a follow-up after Samsung was fined following a jury considering Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple-owned patents and design.
The publication says that the figures must include the total number of units sold during particular time periods relating to Apple and Samsung's patent dispute. Back in August, as part of the previous court case, Samsung was forced to reveal sales figures for 24 of its products, including three Galaxy tablets.
Both technology giants have attempted to keep sales figures and business information outside of the public sphere, but many requests were denied due to lack of "compelling" reasons for doing so. However, Samsung has been granted its request to keep per-unit operating profit figures based on two of its handsets secret, pending an appeal.
Apple has requested additional damages from court after the firm failed in its attempt to prevent the sale of a number of Samsung's devices in the United States. However, not everything has gone to plan for the Cupertino, Calif-based firm, as a U.K. court recently ruled it must pay Samsung's legal fees following "false" statements posted on the iPad maker's website.
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Talkback
Samsung's lose-lose proposition
As we know from the past, Samsung has had a tendency to "exaggerate" sales figures (remember the announced numbers they gave for the first Galaxy Tab, which was found to be less than a tenth of that number in reality, a year later?).
If Samsung's sales figures are actually as high as they have been hinting, then they face losing a massive monetary forfeit to Apple.
But on the other hand, if Samsung's sales figures prove that they have inflated their sales numbers as they have done in the past, then Samsung loses credibility with the public and with investors.
Don't forget the other big loser in all of this
Please apple, dedicate 2013 to innovation instead of litigation.
apple free since November 2012 and so happy about that.
The consumer? Bullcrap
Apple will once again dedicate the new year to innovation as they have done every year.
Samsung, Android, and Microsoft free since FOREVER! And Very happy about that. :D
You proved yourself wrong with your 2nd sentence
What? The whole point of apple's litigation is to ban the sale of competitor products so that consumers CAN'T choose who to support.
The consumer loses every time apple wins. Come on apple, 2013 would be a great year to start innovating instead of litigating. You could also consider bringing your R&D department in house instead of calling it: Microsoft.
What?
The litigation is to force others to stop copying and to develop their own ideas.
For as long as I can remember its been said that Apple was MS's R&D. Way to rewrite history youngster.
You proved yourself wrong with your 3rd sentence
Thankfully you can keep the dream alive.
Go on then, amuse us, show us all the apple innovations in 2012. I wonder if an 8" form factor will feature?
You are right
I agree with you in general
No company should steal any other company's IP so I agree with your sentiment. It is just as wrong for Samsung to steal apple's IP as it is for apple to steal Nokia and Motorola IP, something that apple has been caught doing.
It will be interesting to see how the appeal goes though. apple has had many of their patents invalidated (they were garbage patents to begin with) and the only case where apple won big had so many "irregularities" (I'm being kind) that we'll see how much of it stands up on appeal. It wouldn't surprise me to see apple senior leadership facing criminal charges of jury tampering in 2013.
As for why Samsung wants this data kept hidden, this seems to be par for the course. What does apple have to hide?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/9617698/Apple-ordered-to-reveal-profit-margins.html
Not your 'normal IP'
Can anyone seriously claim that they couldn't tell the difference between an Android tablet such as the Galaxy Tab or Note and an iPad? Maybe the big Samsung logo may give the average consumer a bit of a hint. Has Samsung copied the iPhone so closely that a consumer would pick up an SII and think it came from Apple? Apple's apologists would claim that the Apple products are clearly superior and in so doing are reinforcing Samsung's point that their products are not copies.
The fact that there is so much dispute between the Apple vs Android camps proves that they are not copies. If they were, the arguments would be about whether the shade of green used in Apple's "Messages" icon was nicer than the shade used in Android's.
So, why did the jury find that Samsung did copy? Well, that is the point of Samsung's appeal. They and many others would like an answer to that conundrum too.
As far as keeping detailed sales figures secret, it is not uncommon for any company to wish to keep these details secret. It is information any competitor would love to have to assist their own marketing exercise.