- Title: JAPAN: Samsung beats Apple in Japan patent case
- Date: 31st August 2012
- Summary: JUDGE TOKYO, JAPAN (AUGUST 31, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF APPLE REPRESENTATIVE WALKING OUT AND BOARDING TAXI TAXI DRIVING OFF VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF COURT PEOPLE WALKING IN VAN WITH SAMSUNG REPRESENTATIVES INSIDE DRIVING OFF VARIOUS OF SIGN IN ENGLISH AND JAPANESE READING: "INSTITUTE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY" VARIOUS OF RESEARCHER AT THE INSTITUTE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY UCHIDA TSUYOSHI WORKING AT DESK (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) RESEARCHER AT THE INSTITUTE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, TSUYOSHI UCHIDA, SAYING: "By suing Samsung, presenting the evidence and letting the media in on this, Apple wants to spread the impression that Samsung is a copy-cat and just that alone is advantageous for Apple." EXTERIOR OF TOKYO STOCK EXCHANGE SIGN IN ENGLISH READING: "TOKYO STOCK EXCHANGE" EXCHANGE CENTRE ELECTRONIC TICKER ELECTRONIC BOARD TICKER IN ENGLISH READING: "NTT" FLASHING TICKER IN ENGLISH READING BOTH: "NTT" AND "KDDI" WITH NTT FLASHING TOKYO, JAPAN (FILE) (REUTERS) "IPHONE 4S" SIGN VARIOUS OF IPHONE4S ON DISPLAY "DOCOMO GALAXY S III" SIGN VARIOUS OF CUSTOMERS TESTING GALAXY S III CUSTOMER COMPARING GALAXY S III WITH IPHONE 4S "GALAXY S III" LOGO ON THE PHONE
- Embargoed: 15th September 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Business,Industry
- Reuters ID: LVA2HAPJCX7Q46COTDSBDOLUGJ6N
- Story Text: A Tokyo court ruled on Friday (August 31) that Samsung Electronics' mobile devices did not violate an Apple Inc patent involved in synching mobile devices and computers, awarding the South Korean maker a victory a week after it lost a bruising landmark patent case in the United States.
In rejecting Apple's suit, Tokyo District Court Judge Tamotsu Shoji said Samsung's products did not infringe on the U.S. firm's technological scope.
A U.S. federal jury found last week that Apple did not infringe on any of Samsung's patents, while the South Korean firm had copied key features of iPhone.
The same jury awarded Apple 1.05 billion U.S. dollars in damages and it is now seeking speedy bans on the sale of eight Samsung phones in the U.S. market.
Apple sued Samsung over the infringement of patents involving synching technology only in Japan and not anywhere else in the world, Tsuyoshi Uchida from the Institute of Intellectual Property in Japan said.
The loss over the first patent suit in Japan, would not hugely affect Apple, Uchida said.
"By suing Samsung, presenting the evidence and letting the media in on this, Apple wants to spread the impression that Samsung is a copy-cat and just that alone is advantageous for Apple," said Tsuyoshi Uchida from the Institute of Intellectual Property.
"We welcome the court's decision, which confirmed our long-held position that our products do not infringe Apple's intellectual property," Samsung said in a statement following the verdict from the Tokyo court.
A representative for Apple in Japan declined to comment.
In Seoul, Samsung shares were up 0.7 percent in a flat market.
A spokesman for NTT Docomo Inc declined to comment, while a KDDI Corp spokeswoman said she did not see any major impact from the decision. Both Japanese mobile carriers sell the popular Samsung Galaxy series.
Shares in NTT Docomo last traded down 1.8 percent at a 2-week low, while KDDI was down 1.2 percent. Shares in local rival Softbank Corp <9984.T>, the first Japanese carrier to sell the iPhone and which doesn't sell the Samsung Galaxy line, were down 1.1 percent. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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