S. Korea court awards wins to Samsung, Apple
A South Korean court has awarded Samsung Electronics a partial victory over rival Apple in the patent lawsuit it filed, saying the latter infringed on two of the Korean company's patents. In the counter-suit by Apple, it ruled in favor of Cupertino and Samsung will have to pay 25 million won (US$22,000) for violating one patent.
Yonhap News Agency reported on Friday the Seoul Central District Court had ruled that Apple "infringed two patent technologies of Samsung". As a result, Apple will have to pay damages of 20 million won (US$17,649) for each patent breach, it noted.
The Wall Street Journal followed up with a separate report on Friday stating Samsung had violated one of Apple's patents and will have to pay the penalty of 25 million won. The patent in question is for Cupertino's bounce-back technology, which refers to when a user scrolls beyond the edge of a photo, Web page, or document, it bounces back into place, it explained.
The court also banned sales of Apple's iPhone 4 and iPad 2 devices in the country, while sale of Samsung's Galaxy SII and Galaxy Nexus smartphones, as well as its Galaxy Tab and Galaxy 10.1 tablet devices will have to stop too, it noted.
Samsung's lawsuit was filed in September last year when it sought to ban sales of the yet-released iPhone 5 devices in the country. The patent battle in South Korea is but one of several raging in several countries currently as both companies jockey for position in the highly-competitive mobile industry.