On Friday, a Federal appeals panel ruled that warring tech titans Samsung and Apple will not be compelled to publicly reveal confidential financial details, including profit information.
The panel’s decision reverses a lower court’s previous ruling, which would have forced both companies to disclose closely protected profit and sales data.
Peter Scheer, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition – an advocacy group that argued in the appeals court to have the information disclosed – said he was disappointed in the outcome for the Apple/Samsung case.
In this particular matter, the panel ruled that transparency is not impeded by protecting the privacy of the company’s financial data.
“We recognize the importance of protecting the public’s interest in judicial proceedings and of facilitating its understanding of those proceedings,” the panel announced, according to Reuters. “That interest, however, does not extend to mere curiosity about the parties’ confidential information where that information is not central to a decision on the merits.”
