Apple scores another patent win against Samsung with UK court ruling

Apple has won another case — this time in a UK court — in its ongoing spat with Samsung over the use of Standard Essential Patents in its products.

Judge Christopher Floyd ruled in a London court on Wednesday that Apple's products do not infringe Samsung's patents around the ability to send and receive information from a device over a 3G network.

"We are disappointed by the court's decision. Upon a thorough review of the judgment, we will decide whether to file an appeal. For decades, we have heavily invested in pioneering the development of technological innovations in the mobile industry, which have been constantly reflected in our products," a Samsung spokeswoman said in a statement.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the verdict.

According to the ruling, Samsung's assertion that Apple products infringe on a Standard Essential Patent the South Korean manufacturer holds have been invalidated, which doesn't bode well for Samsung's hopes of claiming nearly 2.5 percent royalties on sales of Apple's 3G-capable devices.

"On a worldwide basis Apple has now fended off 24 assertions of Standard-Essential Patents (SEPs) by Samsung. Samsung prevailed only on three such patents, two of them in Korea," Florian Mueller, a software patents expert, told ZDNet.

"With every win Apple scores, Samsung's demand for a 2.4 percent royalty on Apple's sales of 3G-capable products looks more ridiculous," he added.

The wide-ranging legal battles between the two companies started in 2011 with Apple suing Samsung in the US for alleged IP infringments across the design, user interface, patents and trademarks. Since then, the legal wrangling has spread around the globe and has seen cases played out in South Korea, Japan, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and the UK.