But a rare moment of solidarity between rivals occurred Tuesday as the tech giants joined in urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to block the public disclosure of court filings that contain sensitive financial data.

The price of litigating patent cases should not be the exposure of information that would harm companies in the marketplace, lawyers for Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Corp. told Judges William Bryson, Sharon Prost and Kathleen O’Malley.