Samsung Wins a Patent Case Over Apple in Japan

The following is an excerpt from an article in 

The New York Times
Saturday, September 01, 2012

Samsung Wins a Patent Case Over Apple in Japan

By HIROKO TABUCHI and NICK WINGFIELD

TOKYO — A Japanese court on Friday rejected patent claims made by Apple against Samsung, a victory for the company after its crushing defeat in the United States last week and a reminder of the global scope of the patent war between the two technology giants.

While Apple prevailed over Samsung in the United States, winning an award of $1 billion in damages from a federal jury, the two companies remain neck-and-neck in legal disputes in almost a dozen countries. A judge in South Korea, where Samsung is based, for example, handed down a split decision in a patent case shortly before the jury verdict in the American case.

“Internationally, it’s been a mixed picture” for Apple, said James Bessen, an economist and lecturer at the Boston University School of Law. “Part of that is because most other countries don’t have the same attitude toward software patenting that the U.S. has.”

For both companies, Japan makes up a far smaller proportion of sales than the all-important American market. But the Tokyo ruling suggests that despite Apple’s victory last week, the jostling between the two companies for the upper hand in the fast-growing smartphone and tablet businesses is just beginning.

The Tokyo District Court ruled that Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones and tablets did not violate an Apple patent on technology that synchronizes music and videos between devices and servers.

Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., sued Samsung in Tokyo last year in a case that sought 100 million yen, or $1.3 million, in damages.

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