We’re back with more news from the Apple vs Samsunt front, with the iPhone maker scoring another win in a court of law against the South Korean company.
This time around it’s the Netherlands, where a court found several Galaxy-branded devices running Android 2.2.1 or later to be infringing a certain Apple patent, EP 2059868, and it’s apparently upholding the sales ban in the region.
The patent, also known as the rubber banding patent, describes a way to handle pictures scrolling via a touch interface, giving iOS devices a specific “bounce-back” effect when pulling them around. That kind of effect can be observed when handling documents or websites past the edges of the display on an iOS device as well.
The same court in Hague ruled against Samusng last year in a preliminary hearing on the same matter when it banned several of its devices in the region, including the Galaxy S, Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Ace. Meanwhile, Samsung came up with a software solution of its own to circumvent the problem, which is used on the devices running Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean. However, older devices that have not been updated and still use Apple’s bounce-back effect, will continue to be banned in the country until Samsung can prove they aren’t infringing anymore. ComputerWorld writes:
During the plea hearing in September, Samsung said that, since the last verdict, it uses its own technology in all its products in the Netherlands. Samsung, however failed to provide the court with evidence of the change, annoying the panel of judges.
“The argument raised by Samsung at the hearing that Samsung Benelux does not sell the infringing products any more, cannot lead to a rejection of the ban,” wrote judge Peter Blok, who presided over the panel of three judges in the verdict. Blok said he would grant the ban because Samsung refused to sign a declaration of abstinence committing to not infringing the patent.
Now Samsung also has to patch up Gingerbread and Froyo devices in the region, so they use Samsung’s own picture scrolling technology rather than Apple’s solution, which is a “subtle blue glow to indicate the end of the line,” as Engadget puts it. If it all sounds unclear, then the videos below should help you make sense of what’s at stake here.
Apple’s rubber-banding effect
Samsung’s blue glow effect
The Hague gave Samsung eight weeks to comply, or else it will have to pay Apple around $129,000 per day for every day past the deadline.
Furthermore, Samsung has to provide Apple details about how much profit it made since June 27, 2011 from the Galaxy products found to have been infringing that patent. Once that’s done, a different court would decide on how much damages Samsung has to pay Apple.
Yes, the fight is not over, and we’ll keep watching from the sidelines.
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