Following recent issues emerging out of the prolonged legal battle between Apple and Samsung, in which both companies filed for patent violations against the other, a German court has thrown out both appeals, it was revealed recently.
A spokesman for the Mannheim state court commented that judges had dismissed both cases in which they contested ownership over the “slide-to-unlock” feature used on their respective smartphones.
Apple, Samsung and Motorola Mobility have all been engaging in increasingly motivated patent disputes across the globe. These have usually resulted in the temporary banning of key products.
Examples of which include Apple’s win of a patent dispute against Motorola Mobility regarding the “slide-to-unlock” feature last month, in Munich. Conversely Apple won a court decision appealing for the removal of the Samsung Galaxy tablet from the Australian commercial market, a decision that was shortly afterwards repealed.
An Apple spokesman in London told the BBC:
“that the company would not comment, but referred to a previous statement where it accused Samsung of “blatant copying”
According to the BBC, Samsung responded:
“We are disappointed that the court did not share our views regarding the infringement by Apple of this specific patent in Germany.”
The company expressed its intention to appeal against the dismissal of its patent fight against Apple, adding that a separate case regarding four alleged patent infringements was still pending in Mannheim:
“We will continue to assert our intellectual property rights and defend against Apple’s claims to ensure our continued ability to provide innovative mobile products to consumers,”
As a further complicating and yet equally interesting development, corporate giant Google merged with Motorola Mobility last year, chiefly for the patent rights.
Apple, in a nutshell, is accusing Samsung of copying its design and infringing its patents.
In response, Samsung maintains that Apple has infringed its 3G patents. Samsung is pushing for a ban on the sales of Apple’s iPhone 4S in Australia, Italy, France and Japan.
Apple intends to launch the iPad 3 next month, which is likely to ignite more conflict between the smartphone giants.
(Sources: BBC Technology, The Verge, The Telegraph, Reuters)
