Judge Koh has refused requests by both Apple and Samsung for sensitive company data to be kept secret, as their mobile patent court case approaches jury trial
As the huge Apple-Samsung mobile patent lawsuit edges closer to a jury trial, Judge Lucy Koh is working overtime to narrow the scope of the litigation and to keep a grip on the pre-trial manoeuvring of the two firms' legal teams. Judge Koh has this week refused requests to keep sensitive company data from public release, reminding the companies of an earlier court statement that "the whole trial is going to be open".
There is a legal principle in cases of this nature that openness is presumed unless a party demonstrates strong reasons why a document should be sealed. Judge Koh instructed the Apple and Samsiung legal teams they must show both "good cause" and "compelling reasons" why their records should not be released to the public, and adjudged that the majority of the documents submitted for sealing fail to do so.
"Nearly all of the documents which met the lower, 'good cause' standard do not meet the higher, 'compelling reasons' standard for trial," she wrote.
AppleInsider has more on the latest developments in the Apple-Samsung trial.
Earlier this week the case saw its most bizarre wrangling so far, as the two firms contended over the language used when instructing the jury.
"One point disputed by Samsung is the way jurors will be alerted to an issue with the translation of witnesses that are not English-speaking," wrote this site's Karen Haslam. "Jurors who speak the language of the witness are requested to only take the translation into consideration, so that all jurors have the same evidence. Samsung takes issue with the language of Apple’s instruction as it refers to Korean just as a Korean witness is set to take the stand."
The case continues, and Apple and Samsung will have to resubmit the documents they believe should be sealed from public consumption.
See also:
Who's suing Apple this week? Mobile patent lawsuits round-up
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