A few weeks ago I told you that Samsung asked an Australian court to compel the Apple company to show him the contacts made with Australian operators for the marketing of the iPhone terminal. Today the respective court gave a decision by which he obliges the Apple company to fulfill the request of those from Samsung. Through this decision, the Australian court obliges Apple to offer Samsung the partnership contracts concluded with: Vodafone Group Plc, SingTel Optus Ltd. and Telstra Corp. The basis of this request is, of course, the understanding regarding the subsidies offered by mobile phone operators for iPhone terminals.
Apple Inc. must provide Samsung Electronics Co. with its contracts with Australian mobile-phone carriers as the South Korean company demanded in a patent dispute with the iPhone maker, a judge ruled. Apple needs to produce agreements it has with Vodafone Group Plc, 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.
Of course, Apple has stated that it will appeal against this decision and that it will not provide the documents to Samsung for the time being. In the request made a few weeks ago by Samsung, the source code of the iPhone terminal was also requested, source code that was offered to those from Samsung in a file of 220 pages. Those from Samsung argued that the file does not have all the information related to the iPhone 4S terminal, an Australian judge agreed and the lawyer of the Apple company said that he would complete the list in just two days.
We will resist any attempts by our friends to push us into a corner, on the subsidies, Apple's lawyer Andrew Fox told the judge. This is quite clearly a fishing expedition.
If Apple will finally offer the partnership contracts signed with mobile phone operators, then probably those from Samsung will learn a little more from Apple's strategy. This is the second major loss suffered by Apple after the one in front of the Motorola company which could lead to banning the sale of Apple products in Germany.
