Judge orders details of Apple’s HTC agreement to be revealed
APPLE will have to disclose details of a peace treaty with HTC to its arch-rival Samsung, a US judge has ruled.
In the latest development in the ongoing patent wars between the world’s two most successful smartphone makers, the Korean company’s lawyers will have special access to an agreement between Apple and HTC signed earlier this month.
The deal, which cancelled all lawsuits between HTC and Apple, and formed a patent licensing agreement, was on Wednesday deemed relevant to a separate battle between Samsung and Apple raging in the US courts.
In seeking a sales ban on many Samsung products, Apple has reportedly refused to license certain patents to Samsung. The Korean firm had requested to see the Apple-HTC deal in order to prove that Apple was willing to license those patents to others.
HTC is reported to be paying Apple a fee per handset sold.
In other developments, Samsung added Apple’s recently-launched iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad to the list of products it claims is violating Samsung patents.
In August, Apple won a significant victory when a US judge ordered Samsung to pay the US company $1bn (£627m) over patented iPhone technology.