“Yesterday I wrote that Judge Koh appeared ‘underwhelmed’ by a couple of Samsung motions designed to delay the investigation into the Patentgate scandal and predicted a denial of those motions,” Florian Müller reports for FOSS Patents. “Indeed, the denial came down later that day by local time. And it’s not just that Samsung’s motions failed: Judge Lucy Koh’s order makes things worse for Samsung because this federal judge, who was actually rather lenient on Samsung’s past failures to comply with court orders, is no less convinced of wrongdoing than Magistrate Judge Grewal and has written an order that ups the ante for Samsung’s previously announced mandamus petition to the Federal Circuit.”
“Judge Grewal had said in his order last week that ‘[t]here is reason to believe the rule [that confidential information made available only to outside counsel won’t be disclosed to the party itself] has been breached in the present case,’ and at the related hearing he suggested to Samsung’s counsel again and again and again that the occurrence of violations could and should be admitted because the facts are so very clear. Samsung then brought a set of motions asking Judge Koh to overrule Judge Grewal because some of his findings were allegedly erroneous and contrary to law. Judge Koh, however, has concluded that Judge Grewal’s related decision was ’eminently reasonable,'” Müller reports. “Samsung and the law firm representing it in this case now face an even bigger problem than before because Judge Koh’s order makes clear that there has been some wrongdoing… Improper disclosures. Inexcusable unwillingness to shed light on the matter. And, still worse, if it turns out that the use of improperly-disclosed information influenced the ITC investigation of Samsung’s complaint against Apple, which is what Apple appears to be convinced of, then this would be ‘particularly egregious’ in the judge’s opinion.”
Müller opines, “While it’s very likely that Samsung will now file a petition for writ of mandamus with the Federal Circuit, I doubt that the appeals court will grant Samsung the stay it requested. Unless the U.S. government shutdown somehow affects the court’s plans, I believe next week’s Patentgate hearing will indeed be held, and it could become deeply embarrassing for Samsung and its lawyers.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Samsung is a thoroughly despicable outfit.
Related articles:
Apple lawyer on Samsung scandal: ‘I’m old enough not to believe in coincidences anymore’ – October 5, 2013
Sanctions loom large: Samsung may have spied on sealed Apple-Nokia documents to aid patent deals – October 3, 2013