Apple Inc won a patent lawsuit in Japan, as a Tokyo judge ruled that Samsung Electronics Co smartphones and a tablet computer infringed on its visual effects for touch panels.
Samsung and Apple — the world’s two biggest smartphone makers — have each scored victories in patent disputes fought over four continents since the maker of the iPhone accused Asia’s biggest electronics maker of “slavishly copying” its devices.
GLOBAL DOMINANCE
The companies are competing for dominance of a global mobile-device market estimated by researcher Yankee Group at US$346 billion last year.
Samsung spokesman Nam Ki-yung said the company would review the ruling and then decide if it would appeal.
Takashi Takebayashi, a Tokyo-based spokesman for Apple, did not immediately return a telephone call.
Samsung infringed Apple’s patent on the way an iPad or iPhone screen seems to bounce when a user scrolls to the end of a file, the Cupertino, California-based company said in the lawsuit.
In August last year, Tokyo District Judge Tamotsu Shoji ruled against Apple in a lawsuit that claimed Samsung smartphones and tablet computers infringe on an invention for synchronizing music and video data with servers.
The Tokyo District Court in February rejected Samsung’s request to suspend sales of iPhones and iPads in the nation.
MARKET SHARE
Shipments of tablet computers in Japan jumped 104 percent to 5.68 million units in the year ended March, according to Tokyo-based MM Research Institute Ltd. Apple controlled 53 percent of the market, while Samsung ranked fifth with a 4.3 percent share, the researcher said last month.
Smartphone shipments rose 4 percent to 6.81 million units in Japan during the first three months of the year, according to research company International Data Corp. Apple had 40 percent of sales, while Samsung did not rank in the top five, the researcher said last week.
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