In the so-called "patent war of the century,"Samsung Electronics has won a partial victory over Apple in Seoul as a South Korean court ruled both sides infringed on each other's patents.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled on Friday that the Cupertino-based iPhone maker infringed on Samsung's two standard patents for data transmission technology, while Samsung violated Apple's one patent related to a "bounce-back" function on the touch screen.
The court said in a statement that"iPhone 3GS, iPhone4 and iPad wifi+3G distributed by Apple Korea infringed on some of Samsung's patents,"issuing a sales ban and a scrap order on Apple's related smartphones and tablet computers. It ordered Apple to pay a total of 40 million won (35,298 U.S. dollars) or a 20 million won per patent infringement, in restitution to Samsung.
Meanwhile, the South Korean court ordered Samsung to stop selling and scrap products infringing on the Apple's bounce-back patent such as Galaxy S2, saying that Samsung should pay 25 million won to Apple in restitution for the patent infringement.
The patent battle between the world's top two smartphone makers began in April 2011 when the Cupertino-based company sued Samsung in the United States, claiming that the South Korean company's Galaxy devices copied the iPhone and iPad. Samsung countersued Apple in Seoul, alleging that Apple violated its patents for key wireless technology.
