A Californian federal judge has sanctioned Samsung for destroying evidence which makes up part of a case it’s fighting against Apple over patent infringement. Naughty, Samsung.
On Wednesday, Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal explained that Sammy had “failed to prevent the destruction of relevant evidence” in the form of company emails, and went on to suggest the company could have done more to preserve them.
As Apple no doubt sat gleefully rubbing its hands in excitement, Samsung was forced to explain its company policy of deleting all company email after just two weeks. But the judge pointed out that Samsung continued to delete emails even after it knew about the litigation — so it should have taken steps to change the policy.
While it’s not clear if the decision to keep deleting messages was intentional, it may be convenient for Samsung that the email trail isn’t complete. Clearly, it’s not just Apple that plays sneaky. [Wall Street Jounral]