Samsung Escapes Unscathed Over Accidental Access to Leaked Confidential Documents Between Apple, Nokia

Samsung has escaped unscathed in a recent series of legal disputes filed against it by Apple and Nokia.

In October 2013, the Korean manufacturer accidentally got hold of confidential information pertaining to negotiations between Nokia and Apple. Nokia alleged Samsung will use the knowledge contained on those documents against the Finnish maker to demand a deal.

Thing is, Samsung never intended to get those information. It received the information on a silver platter, spread no less than attorneys handling the case as part of their normal preparatory paperwork. Said attorneys were working at that time on a dispute between Samsung and eternal court room favorite rival Apple.

"What began as a chorus of loud and certain accusations had died down to aggressive suppositions and inferences, and without anything more, Quinn Emanuel and Samsung cannot reasonably be subject to more punitive sanctions," U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal ruled wrote.

Apple's lawyers argued the accidental information leakage was "sent and resent or forwarded literally scores of times." It claimed as many as 223 people, including 90 Samsung employees who weren't authorized to see it, as well as 130 outside lawyers at 19 different law firms, received and saw the confidential informations.

But Mr Grewal ruled Samsung hadn't misuse the information and thus not liable to any sanctions over allegedly misusing the documents.

Both Apple and Nokia wanted Samsung sanctioned and silenced from using the knowledge it accidentally received.

In the course of hearings, Samsung did not deny not even once that it did gain knowledge of those confidential documents.

Moreover, it said it was someone from Ericsson, included in the negotiations between Apple and Nokia, who leaked the confidential information. No one from the three companies came forward to refute Samsung's claim.

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