With Samsung and Apple locked in the middle of so many lawsuits these days, it can be difficult to keep up, but the latest movement in the saga sees the Korean smartphone maker receive a black-eye after a German court rejected one of its patent claims.
Samsung had claimed that Apple infringed upon one of its patents which pertained to 3G/UMTS technology and took the matter to the German courts. One of seven such claimed infringements, this one in particular has met an early death, with Germany’s Mannheim Regional Court rejecting Samsung’s claim of patent infringement.
Judge Andreas Voss made the decision although the reasons for it are currently a little opaque, with FOSS Patents left to venture a guess…
It is believed that the reason for the judge’s decision is not likely to have been a doubt over the validity of Samsung’s patent as that would have most likely have resulted in a stay, rather than the rejection just occurred.
FOSS Patents believes that it is more likely that either Apple was not adjudged to have infringed upon the patent in question, or that Samsung has simply exhausted its IP rights.
The reason for the rejection of this patent could have an effect on the remaining cases, too. If the case was rejected due to patent exhaustion, then the remaining cases could well be in jeopardy, according to FOSS Patents.
We’ll have to defer to FOSS Patents’ judgement here – they’re the experts after all – but we somehow doubt this will be the last we hear about the subject.
So, that’s one down, another six patents to go, Samsung.