Court orders patents in Apple-HTC deal to be made public

December 04, 2012

Apple's patent license agreement with HTC will not be put entirely under seal, except for the pricing and royalty terms, a court in California ordered in a patent infringement lawsuit between Samsung Electronics and Apple. Judge Lucy H. Koh of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose division ordered Monday that the patents covered under the agreement will not be sealed. The Judge was ruling on a motion to seal the entire agreement between Apple and HTC. A motion to seal before a court requests that documents and evidence should be prevented from being available to the general public. "There are compelling reasons to seal pricing and royalty terms, as they may place the parties to the agreement at a disadvantage in future negotiations, but there is nothing in the remainder of the agreement that presents a sufficient risk of competitive harm to justify keeping it from the public," Judge Koh wrote in her order. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2018384/court-orders-patents-in-applehtc-deal-to-be-made-public.html