Remember when Samsung requested that Apple hand over its carrier agreements in the Australian court? Bloomberg is now reporting that the judge has sided with Samsung in the case and is demanding that Apple hand over the juicy details on its iPhone contracts.
Apple is opposing the disclosure, calling Samsung’s request “a fishing expedition.”
Apple needs to produce agreements it has with Vodafone Group Plc (VOD), SingTel Optus Ltd. and Telstra Corp., should the Cupertino, California-based company fail to agree on an assertion in Samsung’s patent lawsuit that the carriers are contractually obliged to subsidize iPhone sales, Australia Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett ordered today.
Samsung sued Apple in Australia, claiming the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPad 2 infringe its patents and is seeking a ban on the sale of the devices in the country. Bennett ruled the contracts with the phone operators are relevant to Samsung’s case. Apple said it would oppose the disclosure and suggested it was a speculative effort to find damaging information.
In classic Apple fashion, the Cupertino company has said that ““We will resist any attempts by our friends to push us into a corner.” Samsung originally sued Apple in Australia (although both companies have been battling each other in courts around the world) with the claim that the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPad 2 all infringe on Samsung patents.
Samsung’s most recent filing is a response to the mud that Apple threw at Samsung when it requested a preliminary injunction of the Galaxy Tablet 10.1 in Australia. The granted injunction was also based off infringed patents.
Apple has also been requested to hand over its source code for the iPhone 4S to Samsung in the Australian court, with Samsung claiming that the code could potentially “infringe its patents for wireless transmissions.” Apple has reportedly given over most of its source code for review, but some files are still missing.
