The San Rafael-based First Amendment Coalition on Tuesday entered into the Apple v. Samsung patent infringement lawsuit in order to advocate for public disclosure of confidential financial records that Apple and Samsung filed in court under seal. (Here’s a link to the coalition’s announcement.)

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose ruled Aug. 9 in favor of a request by Reuters to unseal most of the records in the case.

But when Apple and Samsung said they would appeal her decision, Reuters said it wouldn’t fight the appeal, meaning the records would stay secret.

 Now the First Amendment Coalition, a nonprofit organization dedicated to free speech and open-government, filed a motion to intervene in the appeal on Tuesday.

Apple and Samsung, although disagreeing on just about everything else in this case in which Apple won a $1 billion jury verdict, are in full accord about wanting to maintain total secrecy for their respective financial records, according to the First Amendment Coalition.