Apple Loses Patent Suit in Japanese High Court

Tokyo, June 25 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Intellectual Property High Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that denied Samsung Electronics Co.'s infringement on Apple Inc.'s smartphone patents. The high court supported the August 2012 ruling by Tokyo District Court that rejected the U.S. technology giant's demand that the South Korean rival's Samsung Japan Corp. and Samsung Electronics Japan Co. units pay 100 million yen in damages. The latest ruling is the first handed down by a high court in a series of at least six lawsuits launched at the district court by Apple and Samsung over patents for smartphone and tablet technologies. Apple has insisted that Samsung's Galaxy series of smartphones and tablets totaling eight models violate its patent on synchronization technology for transferring music and other files from personal computers. The high court supported the 2012 district court findings that Samsung's products only compare the names and sizes of files, unlike Apple's synchronization technology based on the names of music titles and artists. The 2012 ruling also turned down Apple's petition for a provisional injunction to stop imports and sales of Samsung's products in Japan. On Friday, the district court ruled that Samsung infringes on Apple's patent for its "bounce-back" technology that makes a Web page rebounds when a user scrolls down to the end of the page on a touch panel of its smartphones and tablets. END