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Apple Inc won a patent lawsuit in Japan, as a Tokyo judge ruled that Samsung Electronics Co smartphones and a tablet computer infringed on its visual effects for touch panels.
Tokyo District Court Judge Shigeru Osuga hasn't ruled on the amount of damage compensation and didn't give a timeframe for providing one, according to a statement from the court.
Samsung and Apple, the world's two biggest smartphone makers, have each scored victories in patent disputes fought over four continents since the maker of the iPhone accused Asia's biggest electronics maker of "slavishly copying" its devices. The companies, are competing for dominance of a global mobile-device market estimated by researcher Yankee Group at $346 billion in 2012.
Samsung spokesman Nam Ki-yung said the company would review the ruling and then decide if it will appeal. Takashi Takebayashi, a Tokyo-based spokesman for Apple, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment on the ruling.
Samsung infringed Apple's patent on the way an iPad or iPhone screen seems to bounce when a user scrolls to the end of a file, the Cupertino, California-based company said in the lawsuit.
In August, Tokyo District Judge Tamotsu Shoji ruled against Apple in a lawsuit that claimed Samsung smartphones and tablet computers infringe on an invention for synchronising music and video data with servers.
Tablet shipments
The Tokyo District Court in February rejected Samsung's request to suspend sales of iPhones and iPads in the nation.
Shipments of tablet computers in Japan jumped 104 per cent to 5.68 million units in the year ended March, according to Tokyo-based MM Research Institute Ltd. Apple controlled 53 per cent of the market, while Samsung ranked fifth with a 4.3 per cent share, the researcher said last month.
