Apple has received its fourth patent defeat in a year as a Dutch court found on Wednesday that the rounded corners of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab products don’t infringe on Apple’s design features.
The ruling, handed down by a district court in The Hague, covers the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Tab 8.9, and Galaxy Tab 7.7.
Apple had argued that the devices violated its rounded edge patent, however the court sided with Samsung, saying the devices were not infringing.
Samsung released a statement saying that “Apple was not the first to design a tablet with a rectangular shape and rounded corners.” Samsung went on to say that numerous examples of prior art exist for Apple’s registered design features.
The decision is the latest in a string of four patent defeats for Apple in Dutch courts in the past year. Samsung scored victories related to 3G and multitouch in June and October of last year, and also put one in the “W” column in January when the court found that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 did not violate other Apple design patents.
The two companies are locked in patent battles across at least 10 countries.
