In Holland, a court gave today a decision in one of the international processes between Apple and Samsung, the Korean company being the one in whose favor everything ended. Apple accused Samsung that the terminals of the Galaxy series infringe a patent that describes various functions of the multitouch technology, including the pinch to zoom function. The Dutch court decided that Samsung does not infringe this technology through the smartphones and tablets of the Galaxy series, Apple failing to convince any court yet that this technology has been infringed by any manufacturer.
A Dutch court has ruled Samsung Electronics does not infringe an Apple Inc patent by using certain multi-touch techniques on some of the Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablet computers. Apple argued in September in the Hague court that Samsung infringed its patent on multi-touch function, which lets users use two fingers at one time on a touch screen. "With these products Samsung does not infringe the claims that Apple has made," the court said in its ruling on Wednesday. Apple has taken Samsung and others to court over the "pinch to zoom" function popular on smartphones and tablets. Apple lost a preliminary injunction on this patent in the Dutch courts last year and also lost its battle in the courts in Britain against HTC Corp, and in Germany against Samsung and Motorola Mobility, which is owned by Google.
The court in The Hague stated that its decision is similar to others given in several European countries, and at this moment it is unlikely that any other court will decide differently. For Apple, winning a trial in the Netherlands represented an extremely important objective because there it had attacked the company that sells Samsung terminals throughout Europe, but it seems that it did not have good enough reasons to sue them. Apple will of course appeal against the decision, but the appeal will most likely be rejected.
