Samsung Gets A Minor Court Win Against Apple

Samsung has won a court order dismissing some counterclaims by Apple in the case dealing with the patents used in the design of products such as Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab.

However, US District Judge Lucy Koh denied the majority of Samsung’s requests, reports Bloomberg.

Apple sued Samsung earlier this year, seeking to ban some of its products over patent infringement.

Claims and counter-claims

Apple’s case against Samsung includes 8 patents used in 17 products, including the very successful Galaxy S II and Galaxy Nexus.

In April, companies announced they were going to try and settle the issue out of court. However, even with input from CEOs Tim Cook and Gee-Sung Choi, the agreement wasn’t reached.

Apple claimed it relied on Samsung’s commitments to license patents under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms (FRAND), and argued that Samsung deliberately failed to disclose its intellectual property rights policy during negotiations.

Koh dismissed Apple’s counterclaim, even though Samsung might have made those commitments without thorough consideration. The judge also granted Samsung’s request to dismiss Apple’s breach of contract counterclaim.

“It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,” a spokesperson for Apple told Bloomberg earlier. “This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

Samsung and Apple have filed at least 30 lawsuits against each other on four continents since April 2011.

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