A South Korean court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Samsung that claims Apple products (iPhone and iPad) featured stolen Samsung patents.
On Thursday, December 12, a Seoul Central District Court judge ruled that the iPhone and iPad maker did not violate any of Samsung's intellectual property rights. Judge Shim Woo-yong said that the technology in two of Samsung's patents can be developed relatively easily from other inventions, making it very unlikely Apple copied them. The judge also indicated that one of Samsung's patent was not even used in the iPad.
Samsung and Apple are well-known competitors in the technology industry and their smartphones are arch rivals in the handset market. Both the companies butted heads in the courtroom as far back as 2011. Apple initially filed a lawsuit claiming that Samsung copied the look and feel of its iconic iPhone and iPad.
In Thursday's ruling, the South Korean court refused to grant a ban on sale of Apple products and dismissed Samsung's claim for 100 million won ($95,100) in damages.
"We are glad the Korean court joined others around the world in standing up for real innovation and rejecting Samsung's ridiculous claims," said Steve Park, Apple's spokesman in Korea.
However, Samsung said that it will review the court's ruling before deciding to whether to appeal or not.
"As Apple has continued to infringe our patented mobile technologies, we will continue to take the measures necessary to protect our intellectual property rights," Samsung said in a statement.
Interestingly, in August 2012, the same court ordered Apple to pay Samsung 40 million won in damages for infringing two wireless technology patents of the South Korean firm. However, in the same ruling, Samsung was also found violating a patent related to the bouncing back function, which is used when scrolling documents on Apple devices. Samsung was asked to pay 25 million won as damages.
