A Dutch court recently handed Apple its fourth patent defeat in a year, finding that the rounded corners of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab products do not infringe on Apple’s registered design features. The ruling handed down by a district court in The Hague, covers the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Tab 8.9, and Galaxy Tab 7.7.
For those of you who are unaware, Apple had argued in court that the devices violated its rounded edge design patent, a design feature widely adopted among tablet manufacturers in the wake of the iPad’s success. According to Reuters, however, the court sided with Samsung, and ended up ruling that the devices don’t infringe on Apple’s designs. Samsung recently stated that “Apple was not the first to design a tablet with a rectangular shape and rounded corners." The South Korean manufacturer continued by saying that numerous examples of prior art exist for Apple's registered design features.
The decision is at least the fourth patent defeat for Apple in Dutch courts in the past year, following Samsung victories related to 3G patents and multitouch technology in June and October of last year, as well as a decision in January finding that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 did not violate other Apple design patents. The Dutch courts have went back and forth, handing out victories to both companies, much like the Apple vs. Samsung case around the rest of the world. The two companies, both of which are mobile market leaders in terms of both profits and units sold, are continuously locked in patent struggles across at least 10 countries in the world. Despite the court asking them to reach an agreement, neither has been able to compromise.
Source: Reuters
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