Samsung under fire over alleged Apple secrets leak
Samsung has run into trouble after confidential patent licensing documents belonging to rival Apple were apparently made available to the company’s executives.
The issue relates to documents surrounding the South Korean company’s patent battle with Apple in the US and it has now been hauled before the courts to reveal the documents.
The secretive files were produced by Apple during the fast discovery process of a patent case between the pair from April 2011 to March 2012.
Apple was required to turn over copies of its licensing deals with firms including Nokia, Ericsson and others but the data was only supposed to be seen by Samsung's outside counsel.
However, according to a court order from the US District Court for the Northern District of California, details of the deal were sent to Samsung employees in an uncensored format.
US Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal, who said the documents addressed “highly confidential, attorneys’-eyes-only information,” said it was unclear if they were intentionally or accidentally revealed.
However, Grewal pointed to a meeting on June 4 between chief IP officers Paul Melin of Nokia and Seungho Ahn of Samsung.
During the meeting, Samsung allegedly used the secret information against Nokia in licence negotiations, according to a declaration from Melin.
Melin claimed Ahn said he had seen the terms of the deal between Nokia and Apple, and pushed Nokia to sign a similar deal with Samsung.
“This has the potential to be very serious for Samsung and its outside attorneys,” said Jeremy Oczek, partner at Bond Schoeneck & King PLLC, in New York, who added that its severity would depend on the extent of the breach and whether it was intentional.
“The court is still trying to ascertain precisely how the breach occurred, but what is known is that before last year’s Apple-Samsung trial, Samsung’s outside counsel sent a draft expert report to Samsung’s executives that apparently included highly confidential information from Apple’s licensing deals.”
The court order says that Samsung had “failed to supply … any evidence at all regarding other uses of the Apple-Nokia license, or those of the other confidential licenses.”
“This is insufficient,” it adds, ordering Samsung to reveal exactly what it knows about the mistake and make key documents, including internal emails, available by October 16.
“It appears the court is taking this matter very seriously and wants to understand that full nature and extent of the breach before coming to any conclusions,” Oczek added.
The parties involved are expected to provide the court with briefs on the matter by October 21 ahead of a hearing scheduled for October 22.
