Samsung calls decision to share evidence with media 'ethical' and 'lawful'
Quinn, a high-powered attorney and managing partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, was dressed down yesterday by Judge Lucy Koh for emails Samsung sent to reporters containing exhibits blocked from consideration by the jury in the company's trial against Apple.
Judge Koh, who is presiding over the case, was made aware of the "leak" by Apple attorneys late Tuesday and ordered Samsung to enter a brief detailing who authorized the email and why. In the party's response, Quinn denies any wrongdoing and claims the action was in response to reporters' requests for information.
The Court has pushed for an open trial, denying on numerous occasions requests to seal deemed-sensitive documents by both Apple and Samsung, and Quinn noted as much in his declaration:
"Far from violating any order, Samsung's transmission to the public of public
information disclosed in pretrial filings is entirely consistent with this Court's statementsâmade
in denying both parties‟ requests to seal documentsâthat â[t]he United States district court is a
public institution, and the workings of litigation must be open to public view. Pretrial
submissions are a part of trial.â
Source: Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Sullivan
Samsung sent out slides on Tuesday of former Apple designer Shin Nishibori's deposition regarding a Sony-styled iPhone as well as a statement which claimed the excluded exhibit "would have established beyond doubt that Samsung did not copy the iPhone design."
Quinn leverages a number of court statutes as well as lawyers' First Amendment rights to free speech in his defense. He goes on to say the move was not intended to sway jury opinion.
From Quinn's declaration:
"Samsung's brief statement and transmission of public materials in response to press inquiries was not motivated by or designed to influence jurors. The members of the jury had already been selected at the time of the statement and the transmission of these public exhibits, and had been specifically instructed not to read any form of media relating to this case. The information provided therefore was not intended to, nor could it, âhave a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding.â
Due to the suit's implications, media outlets have been clamoring to dig up as much information as possible regarding the proceedings which began Monday. As a result, the slides along with pages of legal documents, were released to the public.
176 Comments
But they didn't decide to share the evidence with the court when they had full opportunity to do so alongside all other legal evidence.
Right.
Samsung and court orders don't quite mix, for some reason.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/04/25/samsung_in_violation_of_court_order_to_produce_documents_about_apple.html
Weasel.
Again, Sony did not have a product that looked like the iphone prototype at the time. this prototype never did see the light of day either.
Unless the judge specifically forbade them from making rejected evidence public, it's completely lawful.
Seems to me like Samsung is playing the long game here, and doesn't expect a favorable outcome from this judge. These tactics seem like they are setting up evidence that they were discriminated against, which they can use during the appeal, as well as building up their image in the court of public opinion.
Samsung and court orders don't quite mix, for some reason.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/04/25/samsung_in_violation_of_court_order_to_produce_documents_about_apple.html
There was no court order prohibiting them from doing this.