Apple wins latest patent battle against Samsung

Apple did not violate patents owned by Samsung in making the iPod touch, iPhone and iPad, a judge at the International Trade Commission said in a preliminary ruling last night.

Apple and Samsung have taken their bruising patent disputes to 10 countries as they vie for market share in the booming mobile industry. Apple won a landmark victory last month after a US jury found the South Korean firm had copied key features of the iPhone and awarded Apple $1.05bn (€800m) in damages.

Judge James Gildea said yesterday that Apple did not violate the four patents in the case. Samsung had accused Apple of infringement in a complaint filed in mid-2011. It asked for the infringing products to be banned from sale in the US.

The full commission is due to decide whether to uphold or overturn the judge’s decision in January.

The patents are related to 3G wireless technology, the format of data packets for high-speed transmission, and integrating functions like web surfing with mobile phone functions.

Apple has a parallel complaint filed at the ITC, accusing Samsung, a major Apple chip provider as well as a global rival, of blatantly copying its iPhones and iPads. The preliminary decision is due in mid-October.

Apple has waged an international patent war since 2010 as it seeks to limit the growth of Google’s Android system. Android software, which Apple’s late founder Steve Jobs denounced as a “stolen product”, is now the world’s number one smartphone operating system.