Apple loses yet another Samsung patent case

Apple has suffered a further blow in its patent battle against tablets made by rival Samsung.

An employee of South Korean mobile carrier KT holds a Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet and an Apple iPad at KT's headquarters in Seoul. Apple scored a victory in its patent infringement battle against Samsung after a German court barred the Korean firm from temporarily selling its Galaxy tablet in the European Union except the Netherlands.
An employee of South Korean mobile carrier KT holds a Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet and an Apple iPad at KT's headquarters in Seoul. Apple scored a victory in its patent infringement battle against Samsung after a German court barred the Korean firm from temporarily selling its Galaxy tablet in the European Union except the Netherlands. Credit: Photo: REUTERS

A court in The Hague, citing previous decisions in British courts, ruled that some Samsung Galaxy tablets do not infringe an Apple design.

The Dutch district court case centred on the the rounded corners of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Tab 8.9, and Galaxy Tab 7.7.

"We continue to believe that Apple was not the first to design a tablet with a rectangular shape and rounded corners and that the origins of Apple's registered design features can be found in numerous examples," Samsung said in a statement.

Apple and Samsung, the world's top two smartphone makers, are locked in patent disputes in at least 10 countries as they vie to win customers for their latest gadgets in the lucrative mobile market.

The original British court ruling upheld a previous decision that said Samsung's Galaxy tablet did not infringe upon Apple's patents. It said there were similarities between the two devices but that Samsung had not infringed Apple's design, in part because its products were "not as cool".

The US company was instructed to run newspaper and online adverts admitting that the Korean company did not copy the iPad. The judge said these notices must be in a font size no smaller than Arial 14.

Apple had argued that, in finding Samsung had not infringed its design, the trial judge had place too much emphasis on differences between the design of the back of Galaxy Tab range and the back of the iPad.

Apple believes its main rival "slavishly" ripped off designs and technologies from both the iPad and iPhone in its Android smartphones and tablets and scored the biggest victory so far with a £664m damages award in California.

A key patent regaridng pinch-to-zoom technology, however, was recently declared invalid which could mean those damages are now reduced. Samsung, for its part, has withdrawn its bid to get Apple devices banned in Europe, marking a dramatic cooling of the ‘patent wars’ that have been waged between the two companies since the launch of the iPhone.