A judge has ordered Apple to hand over details of its settlement with HTC to rival Samsung, the latest victory for the South Korean electronics giant.
HTC settled with Apple earlier this month, carving out a ten-year deal to share each others patents. Details of the deal were not revealed, but analysts believe HTC was forced to pay out between $5 and $20 on each handset it creates.The exact nature of the settlement will now be disclosed to Samsungs lawyers, not the public at large, and it is expected that it will deal with some of the same patents at the heart of Samsungs own dispute with Apple.This will give Samsung an edge in any kind of negotiation to end the close to 20 lawsuits the companies are engaged in, but Samsung has previously indicated that it has no intention on settling, despite a whopping $1.05 billion damages payment it was ordered to pay to Apple earlier this year, a ruling it is now appealing.Apple has also had a run of bad luck with its legal battles, including losing an appeal in the UK and being forced to publish an apology on its website, not to mention a failed attempt to dismiss a case launched against it by Motorola, now owned by Google. This latest setback, however, could pave the way for even more losses on Apples side of the patent war.Source: BBC
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