Dutch courts announced today that Samsung tablets do not infringe iPad’s design patents and references similar decisions in U.K. court.
For those that haven’t been following along, Apple has been taking Samsung to court over alleged design infringements for both smartphones and tablets. Starting in 2011, the two companies are now embroiled in over 50 lawsuits around the globe. Apple has had success with their lawsuits in the U.S., however they have lost hearings in South Korea, Japan, the UK and now Netherlands.
apple vs samsung
The latest Apple vs. Samsung hearing deals with the rounded corners of Samsung?s Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Tab 8.9 and Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablets, which Apple argues infringes the design of the iPad. The Hague district court judgement rejected Apple’s argument as there is no question of an infringement whilst citing similar U.K. decisions. While the most recent loss may be disheartening to Apple, Dutch courts may have fell in line with UK decisions as the lawsuit focused on design/IP patent which are subject to EU-level law. Had Apple argued from a technical patent standpoint, the decision may have been different as these are adjudicated on a country-by-country level.
In a recent statement to Reuters, Samsung said “Apple was not the first to design a tablet with a rectangular shape and rounded corners and that the origins of Apple’s registered design features can be found in numerous examples.” Samsung goes on to explain that that these excessive legal claims on such generic designs could harm innovation in the industry and limit consumer choice. While this most recent win for Samsung allows them to continue using the rounded corner design, the Dutch courts have gone back and forth between two companies for the different lawsuits. Late last year, Apple won a ban on Galaxy products running Android 2.2.1 or later that ran Samsung’s proprietary photo gallery software, due to their infringement on Apple’s “rubber-banding” software patent.
