There are a number of ongoing patent disputes between Apple and Samsung that have been going on what seems like years now, and today we have news that Samsung has won a 3G patent dispute against Apple, and wants paying for it.
As an article over on SlashGear is reporting Samsung has achieved a win against Apple in The Hague, and the Dutch court has ruled that older iPhone and iPad models have broken a 3G patent held by Samsung. The company’s earlier attempts to get products such as the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 blocked from sale have failed though.
Samsung has said it will now use this decision to gain compensation from Apple for the patent infringement, and welcomes the decision of the court, “which again confirms that Apple makes free use of our technological innovations”. The statement continued by saying that the company will be looking to secure “adequate damages that Apple and its products have caused”.
The most recent versions of the iPhone and iPad escaped the ruling as Apple has since switched to a new chipset supplier via Qualcomm, and the court felt that these radios didn’t break the terms of Samsung’s patents. This is because Qualcomm has already licensed the necessary patent from Samsung, and the court felt this licensing covered Apple as they were a customer of Qualcomm.
The size of the damages that Samsung is seeking remains unclear and at the time of writing Apple hasn’t commented on the court’s decision. This decision is the latest in a long line of court appearances for the two companies, which have been firing claims and counter claims to each other for a number of months now.
It’s not all good news for Samsung though as the company now finds itself under an EC antitrust investigation, after rival companies have complained that Samsung contravened rules around fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory patent licensing.
Are you surprised at the courts decision?