Edible Apple

US District Court Judge Lucy Koh has ordered that a lot of the evidence relied upon by both Apple and Samsung during their trial this past Summer be made public. And going against Apple’s own wishes, that includes sensitive financial data pertaining to product sales, margins, and profits.

Apple of course makes that information known in a broad sense, but for the first time we’ll soon have access to said information on a product by product basis.

Explaining her decision, Koh said that “Apple has not established that public availability of its product-specific unit sales, revenue, profit, profit margin and cost data would actually provide its competitors with an advantage.”

The Guardian however notes that “Apple still has another chance to keep the information under wraps. It will not be unsealed until the US Court of Appeal also examines whether the data should be made public.”

Koh also pointed out that Apple is seeking to have it both ways in the sense that they’re wilding around financial data to seek damages from Samsung – and remember they want about half a billion more than the $1.05 billion they were awarded this past Summer – but at the same time they want to keep that financial data secret.

Koh noted in her ruling:

Apple’s motion seeks to permanently enjoin the sale of 26 Samsung products that have already been on the market for varying lengths of time, and seeks an enhancement of $535 million on top of the $1.05 billion in damages awarded by the jury. Such remedies would have a profound effect on the smartphone industry, consumers, and the public. As the extensive media coverage indicates, this is a truly extraordinary case of exceptional interest to the public. Apple’s reasons would have to be very compelling indeed to overcome the unsually robust public interest in access.

For some time analysts and Apple observers have speculated as to the profit margins Apple enjoys on some of its most popular products. And we may soon have that handed over to us by Apple themselves soon enough.