Apple argues patent owner, legal firm disclosed settlement secrets in Google trial

Apple Inc on Wednesday accused patent owner Arendi S.A.R.L. of exposing sensitive details about a settlement deal between them, including how much Apple paid, during Arendi's separate infringement trial against Alphabet's Google LLC.

Apple sought a Delaware federal court to impose monetary penalties on Arendi and its legal firm Susman Godfrey one day after Google rejected Arendi's $45.5 million case during the trial, which did not include Apple.

Arendi's lawyers and officials for Apple and Susman Godfrey did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.

Arendi has sued many tech firms over its patents, which pertain to extracting information such as names and addresses from a database and inserting it into word processors and spreadsheets. It sued Apple in 2012 and Google in 2013, accusing their mobile devices of breaching the patents.

Apple resolved with Arendi in 2021 on secret terms. Apple's Wednesday petition stated it attended the Google trial because it believed Arendi would abuse its secret business information during the proceedings.

"And Plaintiff did just that," the suit read.

Apple alleged Arendi's damages expert exposed the monetary parameters of their settlement under questioning by Susman Godfrey attorney Seth Ard, breaking the businesses' confidentiality agreement.

The business stated Arendi and Susman Godfrey had "strong motivations to push the envelope on 'inadvertently' disclosing Apple's confidential information" for "the ultimate benefit of Plaintiff's licensing regime and Plaintiff's counsel's litigation strategy."

Susman Godfrey previously represented Arendi in other patent claims against firms like Apple, Samsung and LG.

Apple urged the court to impose an undetermined sum of costs for the "flagrant violations."