Updated 3:33 pm ET, October 14
Samsung suffered several key losses this week in its ongoing global patent infringement war with Apple.
On Thursday night, Cupertino, California-based Apple won a preliminary injunction banning Samsung from selling its Galaxy Tab tablet in Australia just before the coming lucrative holiday sales season. On Friday, a court in the Netherlands dismissed Samsung’s request for a preliminary injunction against all Apple mobile devices, saying its patents on 3G wireless capacity were essential standards to the industry, and thus required to be licensed out to Apple and other companies.
The Dutch court in the Hague stated that Samsung “was so far out of step with the obligation to make a FRAND [Fair and non-discriminatory] offer that it can be concluded that Samsung is not genuinely prepared to enter a FRAND license agreement with Apple,” USA Today reported.
Now, Samsung is required to make Apple a fair and reasonable licensing offer for the 3G technology and if Apple rejects it, Samsung can take the company back to court. Still, the judge also rejected Apple’s countersuit against Samsung, and ordered both companies to pay each other’s legal fees, so it’s not a complete victory for Apple, but as close to one as they were likely to come given the extent of Apple’s counter-claims.
In Australia, Apple originally “alleged Samsung had infringed up to 13” design patents with the Galaxy Tab but eventually whittled its case down to just two – both related to touchscreen technology (manufacturing and gestures, respectively) – reported Australian tech website IT News.
“Samsung will continue its legal proceeding against Apple’s claim in order to ensure our innovative products remain available to consumers,” the company told IT News in a statement.
International patents expert Florian Mueller, who’s doggedly tracked every movement in the 19 different lawsuits Samsung and Apple have filed against one another around the globe on his FOSS Patents blog, noted that the Australian victory marked a posthumous victory for the late Steve Jobs, who was named as the inventor of a “”touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics.”‘
But while Apple sought to exert the patent claim to its fullest extent, which would have allowed to effectively bar any Android OS device from being sold in Australia, the Federal Court tightly restricted the decision to just the Galaxy Tab on Friday.
“It doesn’t apply to any other player in the marketplace,” said Justice Annabelle Bennett, rejecting Apple lawyers attempts to modify the judgement to allow them to have prior review over every Samsung device, The Wall Street Journal reported.
That’s some consolation to Samsung, but not much. As Mueller notes, the legal winds are clearly shifting in Apple’s favor worldwide, with a judge in the Northern District of California commenting on Friday, ahead of an official ruling, that the design of the Galaxy Tab clearly infringes upon Apple’s patents, if they are proven to be valid. That said, the judge also noted that Apple has yet to prove the patents are valid. Still, it’s not a good sign for Samsung’s so-called “Stanley Kubrick” defense, in which the company pointed to a prop in the film “2001” as an example that iPad’s touchscreen tablet design wasn’t original.
Still, if Apple wins in that case, it could effectively bar the Galaxy Tab from being sold in the U.S., although T-Mobile already went ahead and released the device on Monday.
The next fronts in the patent duel will come in Paris on October 20, when a court will rule on Samsung’s 3G patent infringement claim and preliminary injunction request against the new Apple iPhone 4S, which went on sale internationally on Friday.
Late update: A Samsung spokesperson has emailed statements to TPM on all three court developments from the week (Australia, the Netherlands, USA). The statements are defiant and promise continued litigation.
Regarding Australia, Samsung says:
We are disappointed with the Australia ruling and Samsung will take all necessary measures including legal action in order to ensure our innovative products are available to consumers. This is a part of our ongoing legal proceeding against Apple’s claim. Samsung is also confident it can prove Apple’s violation of Samsung’s wireless technology patents through a cross claim filed on September 16, 2011 with the Federal Court of Australia, New South Wales. Our wireless standard patents are essential for mobile business. We will continue to legally assert our intellectual property rights against those who violate Samsung’s patents and free ride on our technology.
Read more about that September 16 claim, in which Samsung claims Apple infringed on seven patents, here.
Regarding the Netherlands, Samsung writes:
Today’s [Friday’s] ruling relates only to Samsung’s preliminary injunction request, and Samsung will continue to assert our case against Apple’s violation of our wireless technology patents through the main proceeding filed with the court in the Hague. We believe that Samsung’s patented inventions are essential to the efficient and reliable functioning of telecommunications networks and wireless devices, and this violation by Apple will be clearly proven through the main proceeding of this lawsuit by the Hague court.
Regarding California, Samsung says simply: “we are awaiting the judge’s ruling on this matter.”
Adding: “Samsung will continue to actively assert our intellectual property rights to ensure our continued innovation and growth in the mobile communication business.”
