Samsung Electronics asked a court in California to compel Apple to produce a copy of its settlement and patent license agreement with HTC, claiming the document is relevant to its own patent dispute with Apple.
Apple's willingness to license patents in the suit may undermine its claim of irreparable harm and demonstrate that monetary remedies are adequate, Samsung said in a filing on Friday.
HTC and Apple said earlier this month that they had settled all their outstanding patent disputes in a settlement that includes a 10-year agreement under which the companies will license current and future patents from each other. The terms of the settlement were kept confidential and not disclosed.
Apple has sought injunctions on the sale of a number of Samsung products for alleged infringement of its patents. U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh of the District Court for Northern California, San Jose division has scheduled a hearing in December to decide on Apple's plea for a permanent injunction on sales of some Samsung phones.
In August, a jury decided that Samsung must pay Apple US$1.05 billion for infringing several of its patents in Samsung smartphones and tablets. Samsung has, however, asked for a new trial of the case, alleging that the foreman of the jury did not disclose certain relevant information in the voir dire, a court procedure of questioning prospective jurors for potential bias. Samsung's motion will also be heard in December.
The license agreement between Apple and HTC almost certainly covers at least some of the patents in suit, including the '915 and '381 patents on which Apple seeks a permanent injunction in this case, Samsung said in the filing. U.S. Patent no. 7,844,915 refers to application programming interfaces for scrolling operations, while patent no. 7,469,381 refers to "List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touchscreen display."
Evidence of Apple's licensing of these patents would undermine Apple's assertion in its reply, made only a day before announcement of the HTC license, that its patents are unavailable for licensing to competitors, Samsung said. Apple's licensing of the patents-in-suit would also demonstrate its willingness to "forego exclusivity in exchange for money," it added. Samsung has asked that a copy of the agreement should be made available by Nov. 27.
Samsung told the court that Apple had told the South Korean company that it intends to produce the HTC agreement, but must give HTC 10 business days' notice pursuant to the terms of the license agreement.
Apple, however, refused to enter into a binding stipulation confirming that it will produce the license agreement, stating that HTC may object to the production, Samsung said in the filing, while arguing that an objection from HTC could not be a ground for withholding the document.
Apple and HTC could not be immediately reached for comment.
John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com
Comments
millgate said: Errr 3333 of what is agreed between the relevant Government and the lodger and dodger corporate When and if the miscreant understands that the alternative will be VERY PAINFULTax cheating is not legal its a dishonest and grotesque contest that corporate lawyers are very good at and it hurts everyone who chooses to operate their businesses fairly and honestly
callumb9999 said: Because that would be stupid Firstly 333 of what Secondly why on Earth should businesses be punished for something that is COMPLETELY legalBy all means change the laws so that from now on they cant avoid tax but retroactively fining them is hardly a workable plan
millgate said: Ill say this only onceHow about a Debate in the United Nations to settle -worldwide - on say a one-time 3333 deal to all Corporates world-wide to settle all their lodged and dodged taxes - and no more tax dodging - and NO RETRIBUTION
millgate said: This is me again Perhaps we can declare 2013 as the Year of the Great Corporate Tax World-Wide Armistice Errrrr What exactly is the US National Debt
millgate said: Now that Apple have shown that they are prepared toprostitutethemselveswith payments to HTC in lieu of a court case and assumingtheirfine due to Samsung can be resolved in the same way I wonder how much the US Authorities will need to pay them in exchange for the billions of corporate taxes that Apple have dodged and lodged overseas Intriguing what might it cost the US Authorities to settle all the dodging and lodging tax avoidance cases on record or the United Kingdoms Inland Revenue to name but one more country and how much might the Tax Authorities collect in such a play Perhaps we could all stop shouting and snarling at each other and simply get on with life