“A German court on Friday dismissed two cases brought by Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics against each other as part of a global battle for dominance in the market for smartphones and tablet devices,” Reuters reports. “The decision by a regional court in Mannheim covered a claim by Apple that Samsung infringed on its slide-to-lock technology as well as one of three patents Samsung claimed Apple violated.”
“The court in Mannheim already ruled against Samsung regarding the two other patents in January, and there are cases regarding four additional patents held by Samsung and several by Apple pending there,” Reuters reports. “The court is expected to make a decision on March 16 on another slide-to-unlock suit Apple has brought against Samsung.”
Reuters reports, “Apple first sued Samsung in April, claiming that the maker of the Galaxy range of smartphones and tablets “slavishly” copied Apple’s iPhone and iPad models.”
Read more in the full article here.
Florian Mueller writes for FOSS Patents, “Whatever may happen with the appeal of today’s slide-to-unlock decision and Apple’s other slide-to-unlock case against Samsung, there can be no doubt that this was Apple’s best week so far in its German Android-related litigations… Including today’s dismissal of a Samsung lawsuit, Apple won three out of four decisions in Germany this week (the Munich one was a glass-more-than-half-full kind of partial victory). In terms of strategic relevance, the Karlsruhe FRAND decision was hugely more important than the other three combined.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s products came first, then Samsung’s:
Samsung and Google will soon begin to realize that their nuts are in a vise…
Expect the caterwauling to begin.
Gotta liker a post that uses caterwauling.
This is part of the culture of ripping off any successful company and just trying to snag some of the cash.
No R&D, just rip off another company and be happy doing it.
No shame. Just rip off another design and laugh all the way to the bank.
Nice message from the courts there. “Go ahead and rip off your competitors, just make it look marginally different and your good to go”
Here’s an interesting question for the German courts… Name one digital touch screen slide to unlock device that came prior to iPhone… just ONE!
This ruling is a sad joke – as it completely ignores the value of the underlying idea and patent in the first place – I am sure this too will fall in appeal…
Apple’s products came first, then Samsung’s…
Furthermore, Samsung was hired to provide parts to a project that they agreed to partner with Apple on.
Violating this partnerships trust is far more harmful then just coping Apple. Then for Samsung to teams with Google to run these copied devices is even worse.
– Copied the look and functions of the devices
– Broke the Partnerships’ Trust while manufacturing
– Used the stolen system from Google
That 3 strikes your out ! SLAMDUNG.