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Samsung forced to reveal sales data in Apple patent dispute

In a patent dispute with rival Apple, Samsung wil be forced to reveal sales data it wished to keep hidden.
Written by Charlie Osborne, Contributing Writer
samsung apple patent dispute reveal sales data court ruling

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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