A Tokyo courtroom on Friday discharged Apple Inc.’s claim that Samsung had transgressed on its patent – the latest ruling in the global legal combat over smartphones that opposes the 2 technology titans against one another.
Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea, the world’s biggest maker of phones, welcomed the Tokyo District Court ruling that its technology to contemporise mobile players with computers didn’t transgress on Apple patents as affirming “our long-held position.”
“We’ll keep on to propose highly advanced products to consumers, and persist in our contributions toward the mobile industry’s development,” the company stated in a affirmation.
The Apple lawyer present at the courthouse declined comment, and it wasn’t directly clear whether Apple would appeal.
In a session lasting a couple of minutes, Judge Tamotsu Shoji told he didn’t think Samsung products fell under the realm of Apple technology and discharged the lawsuit, filed by Apple in August last year.
Apple, the Cupertino, California-based maker of the hit iPhone and iPad, is embroiled in similar legal squabbles around the world over whether Samsung smartphones, which trusts on Google Inc.’s Android technology, illegally applied Apple designs, ideas or technology.
In one such case, a jury in California ruled last week that Samsung products lawlessly applied such Apple creations as the “bounce-back” feature when a user scrolls to an end image, and the ability to zoom text with a tap of a finger.
The jury awarded Apple $1 billion in damages, and a judge is now evaluating Apple’s request to have eight Samsung products pulled from shelves and banned from the U.S. market, including popular Galaxy model smartphones. Samsung’s latest hit, Galaxy S3, was not part of the U.S. ruling.
Friday’s ruling was the first held in Japan in the Samsung-Apple global court battle, but other technology is being contested by the two companies in separate legal cases in Japan
Apple products are extremely popular among Japanese consumers, but major Japanese carriers such as NTT DoCoMo sell Samsung smartphones as well. Japanese electronics maker Sony Corp. also makes smartphones similar to Samsung’s, using Android technology.
Samsung has sold more than 50 million Galaxy S and Galaxy S2 smartphones around the world. The legal battle also involves Samsung’s Tab device, which Apple claims infringes on patents related to the iPad tablet.
