Apple scores small patent victory against Samsung in Germany

The district court in Mannheim, Germany, has decided that Apple did not infringe on a patent asserted by Samsung Electronics against the iPhone and iPad, as the legal battle between the two companies continues unabated.

Samsung isn’t happy with the verdict. “We are disappointed that the court did not share our views regarding the infringement by Apple of this specific patent in Germany,” a spokesman said via email.

[ Also this week on InfoWorld: Apple files new lawsuit against Samsung in Germany. | Learn about consumerization of IT in person March 4-6, 2012, at IDG’s CITE conference in San Francisco. | Get expert advice about planning and implementing your BYOD strategy with InfoWorld’s 29-page “Mobile and BYOD Deep Dive” PDF special report. | Keep up on key mobile developments and insights with the Mobilize newsletter. ]

The patent ruled on is EP 1,005,726, and covers a “turbo encoding/decoding device and method for processing frame data according to quality-of-service.”

But Samsung isn’t giving up; the Mannheim court still has several more patents to rule on and will do so in the next few weeks, according to Samsung.

Two of the remaining patents are related to telecommunications standards, and two to the utility of mobile devices, Samsung has previously stated.

Samsung will now wait for the written grounds of today’s judgment, review it, and then make a decision about a possible appeal to the Higher Regional Court in Karlsruhe, it said.

Apple had no comment on the verdict, a spokesman said via email.

The worldwide legal battle between Apple and Samsung, which are becoming increasingly dominant in the smartphone market, shows no sign of slowing down.

Earlier this week, Apple filed another lawsuit against Samsung. It is aimed at 10 models in the company’s Galaxy family of smartphones, and was filed in Düsseldorf, Germany.

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