Samsung scored a win in a patent lawsuit in Japan as a Tokyo judge ruled that Samsung’s smartphones and tablet device did not infringe on an Apple patent for synchronizing music and video data with servers.
Apple was ordered by Tokyo District Judge Tamotsu Shoji today to pay costs of the lawsuit after his verdict, the latest decision in a global dispute between the technology giants over patents used in mobile devices. Samsung shares rose, erasing earlier losses.
“It’s hard to believe the products belong to the range of technologies of the claimant,” Shoji said in dismissing Apple’s case.
Apple sued Samsung in Tokyo last year, claiming the Galaxy S, Galaxy Tab, and Galaxy S II infringed the synchronization patent and sought 100 million yen ($1.3 million) in damages.
The Japanese court held that the method Samsung uses to synchronize multimedia content between mobile devices and computers with its Kies software doesn’t infringe a patent held by Apple.
The court ruled that the software distinguishes a file by its name and size, contrary to Apple’s claim that it uses other information such as the length of content to recognize which files need synchronizing.
Samsung welcomed the decision, the company said in a statement. Carolyn Wu, a spokeswoman for Apple, declined to comment.
A Samsung spokesman also said that the Tokyo court also ruled out an injunction request to bar Samsung from offering eight models of Galaxy products in Japan.
Sounding much like a sports reporter trying to find something positive about the hometown team with a losing record, Kim Hyung Sik, Seoul-based analyst at Taurus Investment Securities Co. said, “This will likely turn the tide in favor of Samsung, Samsung had this win in a country that’s strong at intellectual property. The mood is turning positive for Samsung.”
Shares of the South Korean company rose as much as 1.6 percent after the ruling, and closed 1.5 percent higher at 1.233 million won in Seoul.
