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Samsung and its lawyers fined $2M for leaking details of Apple/Nokia patent deal

Men pose with Samsung Galaxy S3 and iPhone 4 smartphones in photo illustration in Zenica

Samsung, together with its lawyers, will have to fork out a little more cash following its loss in its second patent battle with Apple. A court has fined lawyers Quinn Emanuel and Samsung a total of $2M for misusing confidential details of a patent deal struck between Apple and Nokia.

The documents were supplied by Apple to Samsung’s lawyers purely so that it could see that Apple was telling the truth about its patent deals with other companies. The documents were marked “for attorney’s eyes only” and were not to be revealed to Samsung executives … 

Samsung later quoted exact terms of the deal in its own negotiations with Nokia, proving that it had access to the documents and that the court order had been breached.

The court found Quinn Emanuel demonstrated “(1) failure to institute sufficient safeguards for third-party confidential information, and (2) failure to comply with the notice and cooperation requirements set forth in Section 18(a) of the protective order entered in this case.”

With the limited exceptions described above, the court finds that the remaining costs and fees requested by Apple and Nokia are reasonable and shall be awarded. No later than 30 days from this order, Samsung and QE are to pay Nokia a total of $1,145,027.95 and Apple a total of $893,825.77 in fees and costs.

In the original trial, Samsung was found to have infringed on three of the five patents Apple claimed, and awarded damages of just under $120M. Apple was also found to have infringed some lesser Samsung patents, and was ordered to pay $158,400.

(Via AI)

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Comments

  1. patstar5 - 10 years ago

    Is this nokia the here maps or the nokia handset division that was purchase by microsoft?

  2. herb02135go - 10 years ago

    At least Samsung wasn’t conspiring with other companies to keep its employees from seeing fair value for their work.

    While I don’t condone leaks of this mature I’d bet this “leak” was a business decision and the fine is just the cost of doing business. That’s how things are these days.

    • observer1959 - 10 years ago

      That’s exactly what it was. The Samsung executives who used this “lawyers only” document said nothing is confidential. They have a culture of theivery.

    • Eugene Kim - 10 years ago

      Well if you want to play that game:

      At least Apple isn’t overrun by corruption at the highest level including embezzlement, tax evasion, destroying evidence, bribing government officials, strong-arming media outlets, and manipulating internet comments/social media.

      Just how things are done these days, amiright?

      • bigpoppa206 - 10 years ago

        Wow, all accusations with no proof. Tell me one thing Apple does that no other corporation does.

      • Eugene Kim - 10 years ago

        I’m not sure you got my point. Samsung corruption is well documented. Apple has a few scandals, and the “No poaching” agreement is quite egregious, but Apple has nothing compared to Samsung.

      • Rocwurst (@Rocwurst) - 10 years ago

        @bigpoppa206, Samsung’s malfeasance is not only well documented, they have been prosecuted and found guilty (and even admitted to) most of these sins.

        Apple may have the odd issue, but Samsung is pretty much a cesspit when it comes to ethical business practice.

  3. moofer1972 - 10 years ago

    So, they basically had to pay nothing, in relation to the damage they caused.

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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