A South Korean court ruled today that Apple and Samsung infringed on each other’s patents and has banned the companies from selling the infringing devices in the country.
The three judge panel ruled that Apple violated two of Samsung’s wireless technology patents and Samsung violated a single Apple patent pertaining to bounce-back technology. Also, The judges ruled that there was “no possibility” that consumers would confuse the devices from the companies and rejected Apple’s design infringement claims.
While the judges did acknowledge a number of similarities in between Apple’s products and Samsung's, they argued the fact that the companies, you know, stamp their logos and branding all over the devices prevents consumer confusion.
"Given that it's very limited to make big design changes in touch-screen 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.” — Seoul Court
Expect both companies to appeal the decisions and if need be eventually take the case to the South Korean Supreme Court.
Source: Reuters [via CNET]
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