"His ownership of stock neither affected nor impacted his decisions in this case." Like any human can ascertain this about themselves.
If he wasn't aware he owned it at the time seems a pretty reasonable supposition.
Judge in Nokia and Apple lawsuit owned Apple stock during proceedings
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Re: Judge in Nokia and Apple lawsuit owned Apple stock during proceedings
#12Probably a good idea to pass a law that certain key government employees can only own index funds (here's looking at you, congress).
However, with the benefit of hindsight, we can all take solace in the fact that, regardless of the outcome of this lawsuit, Nokia was doomed to failure anyways.
Turns out a bureaucracy built around selling hardware might be liable to underestimate the rising importance of software.
Re: Judge in Nokia and Apple lawsuit owned Apple stock during proceedings
#13"His ownership of stock neither affected nor impacted his decisions in this case." Like any human can ascertain this about themselves.
I mean, it is possible and even likely for a person to own stock in a company without knowing it. Indexes are a very common way of investing nowadays, and many people don't go below that layer of abstraction to see in which companies the money ends up. Not to say that good intent should be assumed in legal matters, but I can see it happening.
This is not talking about index funds. You would not call out a specific stock inside an index fund in a disclosure like this. You could figure it out, bit it's just simply not considered a conflict of interest.
Re: Judge in Nokia and Apple lawsuit owned Apple stock during proceedings
#14Probably a good idea to pass a law that certain key government employees can only own index funds (here's looking at you, congress). However, with the benefit of hindsight, we can all take solace in the fact that, regardless of the outcome of this lawsuit, Nokia was doomed to failure anyways. Turns out a bureaucracy built around selling hardware might be liable to underestimate the rising importance of software.
Or just force judges to disclose conflicts of interests.
Re: Judge in Nokia and Apple lawsuit owned Apple stock during proceedings
#15> If tech companies fail to comply with the new law, they could face fines of up to 3 percent of their South Korea revenue. Is this appstore revenue or total revenue? If they charge a 30% commission, is a 3% fine incentive to stop?
I think you meant to post in this thread instead: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28366063
I once accidentally posted a comment in the wrong thread, and someone replied with a link to the thread I meant to post it in.
I spent the rest of the day wondering how the hell I'd managed to write an entire reply to the wrong thread.
Bet they're going through a "what... but how...?" feeling right about now.
(I still don't really know. It must be a combination of having HN tabs open, interleaved with articles, but then closing one of the comment tabs while reading its corresponding article, at which point you think of something you wanted to say about it. Presto, wrong HN thread?)
It's interesting to me that it happens on HN, but not any other site. Never seen it on Reddit, doubtful it ever happened on Slashdot, etc. There's something interesting going on with HN's simple design – simple enough that you don't realize you're in the wrong thread – plus some kind of common reading pattern that involves closing or mixing tabs.
Occasionally wondered about that over the years...
Re: Judge in Nokia and Apple lawsuit owned Apple stock during proceedings
#16This article doesn’t answer the real questions: How much stock did he own, how did he own it, and what percentage of his portfolio was it?
Apple is one of the biggest companies in the US, so it comprises a significant portion of large-cap index funds. If any of your 401K or other portfolio includes an ETF or other fund with large-cap US companies, you own Apple stock.
If you’re invested 100% in a simple S&P 500 index fund, your portfolio is over 6% AAPL.
If the judge is simply reporting that he held large-cap index funds during this time, I think this is a non-story. Even a 10% drop in a company that makes up 6% of your portfolio is going to be negligible in your overall finances.
On the other hand, if he had something strange like options on AAPL around the time of his verdict, that would be a huge concern. However, I think these stories would have led with those details if they existed.
This is probably nothing.
Re: Judge in Nokia and Apple lawsuit owned Apple stock during proceedings
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Owning Apple stock in a 401k wouldn’t reduce the appearance of impropriety. Having exposure to Apple because it’s a component of a broad market ETF that one owns, on the other hand, would.
> "Judge Conley informed me that it has been brought to his attention that while he presided over the case he owned stock in Apple," writes Joel Turner, the court's chief deputy clerk. That definitely makes it sound like it was a component of something else.
Much more likely to me is that he had a financial advisor handling his money. The article specifically talks about the number of shares purchased, and for most vehicles like this that makes no sense. Also, what I have read about for these conflicts of interest is that broad based index funds and such don't require disclosure. Something like an ETF that was specifically heavy in Apple might, but something that is just tech stocks probably would not.
Re: Judge in Nokia and Apple lawsuit owned Apple stock during proceedings
#18Probably a good idea to pass a law that certain key government employees can only own index funds (here's looking at you, congress). However, with the benefit of hindsight, we can all take solace in the fact that, regardless of the outcome of this lawsuit, Nokia was doomed to failure anyways. Turns out a bureaucracy built around selling hardware might be liable to underestimate the rising importance of software.
Or just force judges to disclose conflicts of interests.
Isn't that exactly what this is?
Re: Judge in Nokia and Apple lawsuit owned Apple stock during proceedings
#19"His ownership of stock neither affected nor impacted his decisions in this case." Like any human can ascertain this about themselves.
I just checked. I own Apple stock through my RRSP mutual fund. Looks like 0.5% of my investment is Apple.
Can I ascertain, about myself, that this wouldn’t affect my decision making?
Re: Judge in Nokia and Apple lawsuit owned Apple stock during proceedings
#20Probably a good idea to pass a law that certain key government employees can only own index funds (here's looking at you, congress). However, with the benefit of hindsight, we can all take solace in the fact that, regardless of the outcome of this lawsuit, Nokia was doomed to failure anyways. Turns out a bureaucracy built around selling hardware might be liable to underestimate the rising importance of software.
Or just force judges to disclose conflicts of interests.
Each state bar’s ethics rules already prohibit it. It’s grounds for losing your law license.