Court won’t seal Samsung sales data

Apple v Samsung trial sign

Samsung of South Korea has lost its bid to keep court records sealed indicating how many products were sold. The ruling by a San Jose, California federal judge denied the request, writing the information required by the court does not reveal product pricing or profit information. However, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, still deliberating whether Apple should receive additional damages to the $1.05 billion awarded in August, did seal a document showing Samsung operating profit for two phones, according to a report from yesterday…

Explaining her decision not to seal the sales data, Koh wrote that the “Samsung appeal involves pricing information and profit margins”.

Instead, the exhibit “only lists the number of units sold in each of several recent months”, Bloomberg quotes the judge.

Samsung had requested that the sales information be sealed until the Federal Court heard its appeal.

On December 10, Koh requested the documents, possibly to help her decide how to rule on an Apple request for additional damages. In August of 2012, a jury found Samsung guilty of infringing six Apple patents, awarding it $1.05 billion.

Koh has already ruled against an Apple move to ban U.S. sales of 26 Samsung devices.

It is unclear what sales data Samsung had hoped to keep out of the hands of Apple’s lawyers that was not already available during the trial phase.

One thing is increasingly clear, though: we may be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in what has become an epic legal confrontation between the two tech titans.

I hope you’re as much looking forward to that day as we are.