The Regional Court in the city of Mannheim, Germany, just dismissed the first of Samsung’s seven copyright infringement claims in a lawsuit against Apple. The patent in question covers technology essential to the 3G wireless communication standard, according to Samsung.
Unfortunately the pronouncement didn’t state the reason for the rejection of this particular patent infringement claim. Florian Mueller speculates about the possible grounds for said ruling on his blog FOSS Patents:
either Apple’s products weren’t deemed to infringe on the patent in a technical sense or the court believes Samsung’s rights are exhausted and Apple has, by extension, a license. If the reason for the rejection was technical non-infringement, Samsung’s other assertions of 3G/UMTS patents in Germany could still succeed.
A ruling of patent exhaustion could have far-reaching implications for Samsung, making it likely that two more lawsuits against Apple related to 3G technology could be thrown out of court, leaving Samsung with one suit against Apple over patents unrelated to 3G technology.
As usual Mr. Mueller has a detailed explanation of the ruling, the possible consequences for Apple and Samsung and background information on his blog. Just follow the link below.
Source: FOSS Patents
