Samsung Strikes Back: Japan Court Rules in Favor of South Korean Mobile Giant

While the recent intellectual property battle regarding Apple’s smart phones was a major victory in a long and heated legal battle with multiple models, designs, and developers in question, the legal war is far from over. This battle is even taking shape in Samsung’s home country of South Korea. This time around, a Japanese court ruled that Samsung did not in fact tamper with Apple’s patents. But in the land of the rising sun, the fights continue. An injunction preventing the sales of a selection of Galaxy smartphones has been requested. Samsung is even countersuing Apple insisting that the iPhone and iPad ripped off their own patents.

It is ironic that this is all coming to the surface during the time when rumors of the iPhone 5 and iPad mini are all abound and release dates are hinted to every extreme. In the antebellum and wake of these court decisions, nothing has been said as far as the fate of the Samsung devices or the impact this may have on the existence and availability of the Android marketplace. Could we see a reality where Android is only available in select countries, with industries, 800 toll free services, and marketplace opportunities isolated to select areas of the hemisphere?

The battle for transcontinental telecommunication dominance has many hoping that the consumers don’t become the true casualties, though such is usually the case with proceedings such as these. Apple is looking to have at least eight phones removed from the market. Samsung faces an injunction hearing in the U.S. courts on September 20^th.

In regards to the Tokyo case, District Judge Tamotsu Shoji announced, “It’s hard to believe the products belong to the range of technologies of the claimant,” while ruling in Samsung’s favor and ordering Apple to pay all legal costs. Samsung’s stock increased a single percent in the wake of the Japanese decision. “We welcome the court’s decision, which confirmed our long-held position that our products do not infringe Apple’s intellectual property.”

South Korea has issued fines to both companies for infringement and imposed a limited ban on sales of the infringing products.