The top tech industry legal battle is currently underway in a Silicon Valley federal court, as Apple attempts to halt Samsung from being able to sell its Galaxy tablet computers and smartphones within the United States.
The suit was filed by Apple back in April 2011, and claims that Samsung “slavishly” took Apple’s iPhone and iPad designs and used them. Though the entire world is interested in the outcome of this case, the proceedings have primarily gone on behind closed doors, with the majority of the court papers being sealed so that the public cannot view them.
Sealing the filed documents is a common practice for cases that deal with intellectual property, such as that between Apple and Samsung. This is because companies have the need to protect their confidential information and trade secrets, which is information that can be exposed during the litigation process. Judges are willing to provide a certain degree of flexibility in their decision of what should and should not be kept a secret.
This case is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, where the regulations state that the judges must specifically sign for every document-sealing request. However, there is no determined deadline for this signing.
Some of the secrecy requests in the case between Apple and Samsung have been rotting away over the last few months as academics, investors, and even technology bloggers battle to assemble all of the small pieces that have been made available to the public.
