Apple won its recent U.S. patent case against Samsung, but the company may have to pay a price by revealing key profit details about the
iPhone.
Judge Lucy Koh has ordered Apple to go public with information about its
sales, earnings, and profit margins
on the iPhone. As a corporation, Apple does report unit sales on its
various products each quarter. But it stops short of divulging how much
profit it makes on each iPhone.
Apple has maintained that revealing such information would benefit its competitors. But apparently Koh didn't buy that argument.
"Apple has not established that public availability of its
product-specific unit sales, revenue, profit, profit margin, and cost
data would actually provide its competitors with an advantage," Koh said
in her ruling yesterday. "As evidenced by the plethora of media and
general public scrutiny of the preliminary injunction proceedings and
the trial, the public has a significant interest in these court filings,
and therefore the strong presumption of public access applies."
Apple still has a shot to avoid going public with its data. The
matter is scheduled to go to the U.S. Court of Appeals, which will
render its own decision.
Koh presided over the recent patent case between Apple and Samsung in which the latter was found guilty of patent infringement and ordered to pay penalties of more than $1 billion. Apple has ramped up the legal battle since the verdict.
The iPhone maker is now looking to ban the sale of 26 different
Samsung products already on the market and wants $535 million in
addition to the $1.05 billion in initial damages. Ironically, those
factors played a role in Koh's decision.
"Such remedies would have a profound effect on the smartphone
industry, consumers, and the public," she said. "As the extensive media
coverage indicates, this is a truly extraordinary case of exceptional
interest to the public. Apple's reasons would have to be very compelling
indeed to overcome the unusually robust public interest in access."
Samsung is seeking a whole new trial, claiming that the verdict was tainted
after the jury foreman failed to disclose his own legal dealings with
former employer Seagate, a company in which Samsung is a major investor.
We have contacted Apple for comment and will update the story when we hear back.
(Via Ars Technica)
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