Apple took the courts in the Netherlands with an infringement suit regarding multitouch technology. Dutch courts ruled in favor of Samsung, and cleared them of any infringement claims brought forth by Apple, according to a report from Reuters. This is similar to recent rulings in favor of Samsung in the UK and Germany.
Official court documents have yet to surface. So far, only one official quote from the ruling has been made public. “With these products Samsung does not infringe the claims that Apple has made,” the Dutch court wrote. Hopefully, the rest of the official document comes out soon enough, but for now, this will have to do.
The patent in question covers a broader approach to multitouch than the IP Apple used in its California case earlier this year. The earlier suit involves specific gestures, whereas this patent infringement suit involves a deeper view of how multitouch integrates with the OS and how specific apps recognize it. It’s interesting how a patent involving essentially the same thing, but with a different level of integration can completely alter the result of a litigation.
We will have to wait for the full documents to come out to find out exactly why the Dutch courts felt that this was not a case of infringement. Either way, it’s another victory for Samsung, which should have soften the blow of the $1bn judgement in favor of Apple recently. Once the official report comes out, we will let you know in more detail why the case was thrown out by the Dutch courts.
[via SlashGear]
