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U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh has denied Samsung’s request to keep its phone and device sales data out of the public’s eye.
According to Bloomberg, which obtained a copy of an order filed earlier this week, Koh decided that Samsung must file and cannot seal an exhibit detailing total units sold on certain Samsung products. The products included in that exhibit, as well as the span of time in which the sales were registered, were not disclosed in Koh’s order.
Koh has been at the epicenter of Apple and Samsung’s vicious patent battle in a San Jose, Calif., courtroom. The judge presided over Apple’s first major victory in their battle, when the iPhone maker was awarded more than $1 billion from a jury that found Samsung had violated several Apple patents. Last month, Koh denied Apple’s request for a sales ban on Samsung products.
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Still, the case continues, as Apple tries to seek more damages from Samsung, and Samsung plans its appeal to a U.S. Circuit Court. According to Bloomberg, Samsung wanted to keep its sales data out of the court record until its appeal was heard by that Circuit Court — a plea Koh struck down.
“Samsung’s appeal involves pricing information and profit margins,” Koh wrote in her order, according to Bloomberg, adding that the soon-to-be unsealed exhibit “only lists the number of units sold in each of several recent months.”
This isn’t the first time sales data has been made public. In August, Apple was forced to reveal sales data on its iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch over a period of five years. Samsung had to do the same on its Galaxy Prevail mobile phone. Just a couple of months later, Apple was ordered by Koh to share its sales, earnings, and profit margins on the iPhone.
It wasn’t a total loss for Samsung this time around. In a separate order, Koh said the company would be able to seal operating profit on two unidentified Samsung phones.
CNET has contacted Samsung for comment on the judge’s order. We will update this story when we have more information.
