Samsung argued that Apple used the patented technology without the proper license. The court found otherwise, though didn't share the specifics behind its decision. FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller believes there are two likely reasons behind the court's decision: 1. Apple is infringing on the patent for technical reasons, or 2. the court thinks Samsung's rights over the patent have expired and Apple does in fact have a license to use them.
The reasoning behind the rejection is important, because it will impact the four other lawsuits--covering six more patents--that Samsung has filed against Apple in Germany.
[ Learn more about the legal battle between Apple and Samsung. Read Samsung Sues Apple (Again). ]
"If the reason for the rejection was technical non-infringement," explained Mueller, "Samsung's other assertions of 3G/UMTS patents in Germany could still succeed. However, if the reason was patent exhaustion, all but one of the four remaining Samsung lawsuits in Germany (one over two patents unrelated to 3G, including a smiley input patent) would likely be thrown out as well."
Apple has lawsuits pending against Samsung, as well, with six patents at question. The two companies have numerous lawsuits in countries around the world over patents and technology found in smartphones and tablets.
Meanwhile, in Samsung's home market of Korea, it recently passed a major milestone for its flagship Galaxy S II smartphone. Samsung has sold more than 5 million Galaxy S II smartphones there in the nine months since it launched. Samsung claims that few devices have reached such sales success in Korea. The company owns about 53% of the Korean smartphone market.
By way of comparison, Apple and its retail partners sold more than 4 million iPhone 4S devices the first weekend the phone was available for sale back in October. It has been a strong seller since. All signs point to a massive quarter for Apple with respect to iPhone sales. Apple is due to report its holiday-quarter earnings January 24.
Nominate your company for the 2012 InformationWeek 500--our 24rd annual ranking of the nation's very best business technology innovators. Deadline is April 27. Organizations with $250 million or more in revenue may apply for the 2012 InformationWeek 500 now.
.svg)
