Legal wranglings continue in the Apple vs Samsung case. The latest twist? The judge in the case has ruled that Apple’s got to show its carrier contracts with Telstra, Optus and Vodafone to Samsung.
Justice Annabel Bennet made the ruling, which is in relation to an assertion in Samsung’s patent lawsuit against Apple that carriers are obliged by the terms of the contract to subsidise iPhone sales. I’m sure the contracts would make a mix of interesting and incredibly tedious reading — if you’ve ever needed to fall asleep, reading every section of your mobile phone contract would do it, and I don’t doubt the business agreements are any more dry.
It’s noted in the Bloomberg story that Samsung hasn’t yet succeeded in getting Apple to hand over the entire source code to the iPhone 4S’ firmware; that part of the suit relates to Samsung’s assertion that the 4S infringes some of Samsung’s wireless transmission patents. Apple has handed over 220 pages of documents, but according to Samsung’s lawyer, there’s a file missing; the judge has deferred ruling on that part of the case until November 11. [Bloomberg]