Samsung employees allegedly swallowed documents containing legal evidence

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Following Apple winning its second trial in the US against Samsung for patent infringement, Vanity Fair is out with a piece extensively detailing the Apple and Samsung smartphone war that has been raging on for years.

It details the back-story behind the two smartphone giants and the public trial, like misconduct at Samsung revolving price fixing, then COO Tim Cook expressing his concern over infringement to Samsung president Jay Y. Lee in August 2010, and theorizes why Apple may win the battles but still lose the war…

The piece tells one especially interesting back story about South Korean investigators trying to raid a Samsung facility to look into price fixing with South Korean mobile carriers:

Before the investigators could get inside, security guards approached and refused to let them through the door. A standoff ensued, and the investigators called the police, who finally got them inside after a 30-minute delay. Curious about what had been happening in the plant as they cooled their heels outside, the officials seized video from internal security cameras. What they saw was almost beyond belief.

Samsung employees didn’t want investigators to find what was inside:

Upon getting word that investigators were outside, employees at the plant began destroying documents and switching computers, replacing the ones that were being used—and might have damaging material on them—with others.

Apple lawyers were amused by the instance when they heard about employees eating paper:

A year later, Korean newspapers reported that the government had fined Samsung for obstructing the investigation at the facility. At the time, a legal team representing Apple was in Seoul to take depositions in the Samsung case, and they read about the standoff. From what they heard, one of the Samsung employees there had even swallowed documents before the investigators were allowed in. That certainly didn’t bode well for Apple’s case; how, the Apple lawyers said half-jokingly among themselves, could they possibly compete in a legal forum with employees who were so loyal to the company that they were willing to eat incriminating evidence?

With the smartphone war raging on, it’s a good piece to read.