Samsung loses to Apple in UK High Court patent battle

KOREAN PHONE MAKER Samsung has lost its UK High Court battle against Apple, after a judge ruled that the patents in dispute should not have been granted to Samsung in the first place.

The ruling, which was made public on Thursday, did find that Apple infringed Samsung patents, but went on to say that the uses already existed in prior art. This means that Samsung had no priority ownership of the patents it accused Apple of infringing, meaning that it effectively lost the case in the UK.

Samsung unsurprisingly is disappointed with today's ruling, and said that it is mulling whether to file an appeal.

A spokesperson told The INQUIRER, "We are disappointed by the court's decision. Upon a thorough review of the judgment, we will decide whether to file an appeal.

"For decades, we have heavily invested in pioneering the development of technological innovations in the mobile industry, which have been constantly reflected in our products. We will continue to take the measures necessary to protect our intellectual property rights."

Apple, which is no doubt feeling pretty smug right now, refused to comment on the ruling.

Today's ruling comes just hours after it was revealed that Nokia is backing Apple in its ongoing patent dispute with Samsung, and is calling for US District Court Judge Lucy Koh to reverse her decision and grant Apple a ban on certain Samsung products in the US.

Nokia is arguing that not doing so "could cause wide-ranging damage to the United States patent protection landscape". µ