Days after winning a stunning patent battle in a US Court, American software giant Apple faced a setback when a Japanese court today rejected its claim that its South Korean business rival Samsung stole its technology.
The Tokyo District Court in a significant ruling that could cause ripples in Asian market ruled that Samsung Electronics had not infringed Apple INC Smartphone and tablet computer, Kyodo reported.
The US maker of iPhone and iPad had demanded the South Korean technology giant pay damages of 100 million yen, claiming that some of Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones and tablets infringe Apple’s technology patent related to transfers of music and other data among portable devices.
The Tokyo battle is the latest saga in a global court fight being waged by two rivals.
“The defendant’s products do not seem like they used the same technology as the plaintiff’s products so we turn down the complaints made by (Apple),” Judge Tamotsu Shoji told the court.
Samsung has denied its rival’s claims in a string of similar cases filed across the globe, hailed the Tokyo court’s ruling and in a statement said the ruling “confirms our long—held position that our products do not infringe Apple’s intellectual property.”
The Tokyo ruling comes a week after the iPhone maker won more than USD 1.0 billion in a massive US court victory over Samsung with jurors finding that the South Korean firm had “willfully” infringed on Apple’s patents.
The battle in Tokyo focused on Apple’s claim that Samsung stole technology used to transfer music and video files, but sought a comparatively smaller damages running into $1.27 million. It also sought an injunction to block Samsung sales in Japan.
The US and Tokyo legal turf war comes after a court in Seoul last week ruled that the two business rivals had swiped each other’s technology and awarded damages to both the sides.