Samsung recently suffered a loss to its rival Apple when a judge cleared Apple on infringing on three different smartphone patents held by Samsung. Despite the home-field advantage, Apple can now continue to sell its iPhone devices in South Korea without facing a ban.
Samsung had accused Apple of violating patents related to messaging in mobile devices. According to Information Week, it named the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 specifically as the violators and wanted sales of the phone banned in the country and about $100,000 in damages. The court, however, rejected all of Samsung's claims saying the company's patents were invalid because they could easily be replicated using other technologies.
"We are disappointed by the court's decision," Samsung said in a statement. "We will continue to take the measures necessary to protect our intellectual property rights."
This loss for Samsung comes after a similar win in court last year that saw Apple being found guilty of infringing on Samsung's standard essential patents. However, attached to the verdict is the stipulation that Standard essential patents must be licensed at fair and reasonable terms. That means Samsung can't stick Apple with a huge bill to license them, and it couldn't be awarded massive damages.
Meanwhile, in November, a California jury determined that Samsung owes Apple $290 million in damages for violating its smartphone patents. The original judgement (made in August 2012) called for $1.05 billion in damages, but the judge overseeing the issue reportedly threw out more than $400 million of the award because the jury apparently miscalculated the damages.
Apple and Samsung have been battling one another in several courts around the world including in the U.K., Germany, the Netherlands and Australia. Each has won some rulings and lost others. In March they will go back to trial in the United States over newer devices made by Samsung that could have a larger impact on the company if either ban or more damages are awarded to Apple.
