Tokyo Court Rules In Favour Of Apple Against Samsung On Patent
A Tokyo court ruled on Friday that Samsung Electronics had infringed on rival Apple’s patent for a “bounce-back” feature on earlier models of its popular smartphones.
The rubber-banding patent refers to the bouncing animation that takes place when a user scrolls past the end of a page while on a mobile device.
Samsung has already changed its interface on recent models to show a blue line at the end of documents, the report noted.
The Tokyo District Court issued a partial verdict Friday in favor of Apple. Damages were not announced. A final verdict is expected later.
Apple and Samsung are embroiled in similar battles in the U.S., South Korea, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain, France and Australia.
The Japanese court’s decision comes after the US Patent and Trademark office judged in April that Apple’s patent for the bounce-back feature was invalid, allowing older Samsung models that had a similar feature to remain on sale.
Samsung and Apple, the world’s two biggest smartphone makers, have each scored victories in patent disputes fought over four continents since the maker of the iPhone accused Asia’s biggest electronics maker of “slavishly copying” its devices. The companies, are competing for dominance of a global mobile-device market estimated by researcher Yankee Group at $346 billion in 2012.
Further details regarding the Tokyo court’s decision will be announced when the final ruling is handed down later today.
[Via]
