A tit-for-tat spat between Apple and Samsung has resulted in both companies being fined and their products banned from being sold in South Korea.
A judge ruled that the two largest smart-phone makers had infringed each other’s patents on mobile devices.
The Seoul central district court ordered Apple to remove the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad 1 and iPad 2 from shelves in South Korea, saying they infringed two of Samsung’s telecommunications patents. The court also ruled that Samsung infringed one of Apple’s patents related to the screen’s “bouncing back” function and banned sales of the Galaxy S2 and other products in South Korea.
However, the court ruled against Apple’s claims that Samsung had copied the designs of its products.
The court ordered Apple to pay 40 million won (£22,000) in damages to its South Korean rival, while Samsung was told to pay Apple 25 million won.
The decision comes as a jury in California is deliberating on a US patent trial between the two firms. Apple is seeking more than $2.5bn (£1.6bn) from Samsung, for allegedly violating patents and features in the iPad and iPhone.
“There are lots of external design similarities between the iPhone and Galaxy S, such as rounded corners and large screens ... but these similarities had been documented in previous products,” the Korean judge ruled.
“Given that it’s very limited to make big design changes in touchscreen-based mobile products in general ... and the defendant [Samsung] differentiated its products with three buttons in the front and adopted different designs in camera and [on the] side, the two products have a different look.”
