Clash of the titans? Germany court rules for Samsung in Apple patent dispute

Sung Un Kim

A German court on Tuesday ruled in favour of Samsung Electronics by upholding a lower court decision that rejected the request by Apple to ban the sale of South Korean company's Galaxy Tab 10.1 N. The Oberlandesgericht Duesseldorf held that Samsung is allowed to sell the revised version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 while the Galaxy Tab 7.7 was prohibited from being sold in Europe. Samsung changed its 10.1 version after a German court found that the model violated Apple's patents last year and the higher court in Duesseldorf affirmed the decision earlier this year. In March a German court dismissed suits by the two companies making a total of 14 such cases decided in Germany.

Apple and Samsung have been embroiled in continuous patent litigation around the world. On Monday, an Australian federal court began hearing two patent infringement cases brought by Apple and Samsung Electronics that are anticipated to last for the next three months. Earlier this month, a UK court ruled in favour of Samsung in a design infringement case brought by Apple alleging that three of Samsung's tablets infringed upon Apple's registered design patents while Samsung denied infringement. On the other hand, a judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California issued an injunction against Samsung to stop the sale of its Galaxy Nexus smartphone in the US. Judge Lucy Koh held that Apple is likely to succeed on the merits in the litigation and would likely suffer irreparable harm if Samsung's sale of its smartphone is not stopped immediately. A week earlier, Koh had granted an injunction against Samsung blocking the sale of its Galaxy 10.1 tablet computer while the patent infringement case is reviewed. Apple filed suit against Samsung in April of last year alleging that Samsung committed 10 patent infringements, two trademark violations and two trade dress violations by copying iPhone and iPad technology in making its "Galaxy" products. In June, the District Court of The Hague ruled in favour of Samsung against Apple holding that Apple was liable for infringing upon one of the Korean company's four patents, a 3G patent. In March Samsung filed suit against Apple in the Seoul Central District Court in South Korea alleging Apple had infringed three of its utility patents.

Source: The Jurist (http://jurist.org/paperchase/2012/07/germany-court-rules-for-samsung-in-apple-patent-dispute.php )