Samsung scores a victory over Apple in Dutch court

KOREAN PHONE MAKER Samsung is celebrating today, as it reportedly has defeated Apple in a Dutch court.

That's according to Reuters, which reports that a court in The Hague ruled today that Samsung does not infringe on a multi-touch input patent owned by its rival. Apple had argued that Samsung misuses the patent, which refers to a system when two or more fingers are used to interact with a device's screen, such as pinch to zoom, for example.

"With these products Samsung does not infringe the claims that Apple has made," the court said in its ruling, adding that Apple will be ordered to pay litigation costs of around $420,000.

This follows similar decisions here in the UK, with HTC, Motorola and Samsung scoring victories in similar patent skirmishes.

In a statement Samsung said, "We welcome today's ruling, which affirms our position that our products do not infringe Apple's intellectual property".

Apple has not yet responded to our request for comment.

The two companies will meet in court again on Friday, where the International Trade Commisson (ITC) is set to make a decision over claims that Samsung infringes other Apple patents. µ