“c and trade secrets at a hearing on Tuesday over document secrecy in Apple Inc’s patent litigation against Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.,” Alina Selyukh reports for Reuters.
“A coalition of media advocacy groups and news organizations is asking the Federal U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a lower court ruling that ordered the companies to unseal many financial documents filed in the high-stakes patent case,” Selyukh reports. “The coalition of media and free speech advocates, including the New York Times and Bloomberg, argued that access to the sealed information is important for the public to understand the judicial process and why one tech giant may ultimately prevail.”
“But the three-judge Federal Circuit panel, which specializes in patent cases, expressed concerns about whether their definition of trade secrets is too narrow and public interest, too broad,” Selyukh reports. “‘You really seem to be saying that a trade secret is the formula for Coke and not much else,’ said Judge William Bryson… Bryson on Tuesday also appeared to attempt to detach Samsung from Apple in the secrecy dispute, questioning Samsung’s lack of its own proof of damages that unsealed documents would cause.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Judge Bork” for the heads up.]
Pretty soon there will be no incentive be first to the market with anything.
Maybe one reason why startups can be so creative and revolutionary is that they don’t have everyone in the world saying they have the right to know what they are doing at all times.
Steve Jobs always said Apple was the largest “start up” in the world. That spirit may live on, but if Wall Street, the courts and the media have their way Ive is going to be designing the next big thing behind a glass wall while all of us watch and the other tech companies stand their with a pen and pad.