The US Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal ruled that Samsung’s lawyers have broken the court order by sharing secret patent licensing agreements between Apple and Nokia with executives of the South Korean smartphone maker.
The judge has also ordered one of the patent licensing executives of Samsung, together with five other Samsung executives to appear in court by 16 October 2013, with a further hearing scheduled for 22 October.
The judge’s ruling comes in the wake of complaints filed by Apple and Nokia that Samsung staff had come to know the details of the private June 2011 patent licensing agreement from a document that was that was supposed to be restricted exclusively for an expert witness.
The court order said that specifically, according to Nokia chief intellectual property officer Paul Melin, Samsung executive Dr. Seungho Ahnstated that Apple had produced the Apple-Nokia license in its court case with Samsung, and that Samsung’s outside counsel had provided his team with the terms of the Apple-Nokia license.
"Mr. Melin recounts that to prove to Nokia that he knew the confidential terms of the Apple-Nokia license, Dr. Ahn recited the terms of the license, and even went so far as to tell Nokia that "all information leaks," the order said.
The issue with Samsung executives viewing document is that it comprises information that could be used against each other as an unfair arbitration policy.
