A
Japanese court on Friday will issue a ruling in a bitter patent dispute between
Apple and its South Korean rival Samsung, the latest case in a global war
between the two technology giants.
The
Tokyo District Court was expected to rule on Apple's claim that Samsung
illegally copied technology from its iconic iPhone and iPad tablet for some of
its Galaxy smartphones and the Galaxy Tab.
Samsung
has steadfastly denied those claims in a string of similar cases filed across
the globe.
The
Tokyo ruling comes a week after the iPhone maker won more than $1.0 billion in a
massive US court victory over Samsung with jurors finding that the South Korean
firm had "willfully" infringed on Apple's patents.
Jurors
rejected the South Korean electronics firm's patent theft counterclaims against
Apple.
The
high-profile verdict affects patents on a range of Samsung products including
some of its popular smartphones and its Galaxy 10 tablet -- devices alleged to
have been copied from the iPhone and iPad.
Also
last week, a court in Seoul ruled the pair had both swiped each other's technology
and awarded damages to both technology giants.
It also
imposed a partial ban on product sales in South Korea of Apple's iPhone 4 and
iPad 2, as well as Samsung's Galaxy S and Galaxy S II among other products.
"If
the (Japanese) verdict rules that Samsung violated patent rights, it would have
a significant impact on Samsung," said Michiru Takahashi, a patent lawyer
at Jones Day in Tokyo.
"But
if the verdict does not recognise a violation... Samsung will regain
momentum," she added.
The
patent cases could shake up the sizzling market for mobile devices in which
Apple has been losing ground to rivals like Samsung that use the Android
operating system developed by Google.
A survey
by research firm IDC showed Samsung shipped 50.2 million smartphones globally
in the April-June period, while Apple sold 26 million iPhones. IDC said Samsung
held 32.6 percent of the market to 16.9 percent for Apple.
Source: MSN.Com
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