A U.S. Judge has rejected requests by Apple and Samsung to keep out of the public eye key documents relating to the high-stakes, patent-infringement legal battle the two tech-giants are involved in.
Late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge, Lucy Koh, issued a statement saying “it appears that the parties have overdesignated confidential documents and are seeking to seal information that is not truly sealable.”
Samsung and Apple were both given one week to re-file their sealing requests, before the documents are made available to the public eye. Samsung told CNET reporters that it was weighing its options, and Apple couldn’t be contacted for comment.
The two companies are locked in a series of lawsuits and counter-lawsuits. The whole situation started in April 2011, when Apple issued a claim against Samsung for violating one of its patents. Samsung was accused of copying the “look and feel” of the iPad tablet and iPhone smartphone. Apple sought to bar the sale of the Samsung Galaxy SIII and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, in the U.S.A., and has succeeded in presenting Samsung with an injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1. U.S. Judge, Lucy Koh, threw out the request to bar the Galaxy SIII.
The highly-anticipated patent trial is set for July 30th.