The following is an excerpt from Jun Yang | August 24,2012 | Bloomberg.com |
Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) must stop selling some smartphones and tablet computers in South Korea and pay damages after a Seoul court ruled they infringed on each other’s patents.
Apple, maker of the iPhone, violated two Samsung patents related to mobile-data transfer technologies, the Seoul Central District Court said today. Samsung, the world’s largest mobile- phone maker, infringed one Apple patent related to a “bounce- back” touchscreen feature, though the Suwon, South Korea-based company didn’t copy the design of the iPhone, the court said.
The sales bans don’t cover Apple’s iPhone 4S, its newest iPad, or Samsung’s latest products including the Galaxy S III phone, all of which were released after the lawsuits were filed. The companies have sued each other on four continents since April, accusing each other of copying products, design and technology as they battle for dominance of a smartphone market estimated by Bloomberg Industries to be worth $219 billion.
“The ruling is in line with what we had expected,” Im Jeong Jae, a Seoul-based fund manager at Shinhan BNP Paribas Asset Management Co., which oversees about $29 billion, said by phone today. “What’s important is how the verdict that’s coming out soon in the U.S. will affect other pending cases in places like Europe and Australia.”
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