[JURIST] The Dutch Rechtbank ‘s-Gravenhage [official website, in Dutch] court ruled Wednesday that Samsung Electronics did not infringe on a software patent held by Apple [corporate websites]. Apple brought the suit alleging Samsung infringed on their patent [EP 2098498] concerning methods for user input and data manipulation through a “multi-touch” touch screen with their Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets running the Android operating system [official website]. The court undertook a detailed explanation of the property protected by Apple’s patent and a description of methods used by Android in the allegedly infringing actions. The court held that Samsung and Android’s implementation differed from the Apple patent, and thus found that Samsung did not infringe.

Apple and Samsung have been embroiled in continuous patent litigation in courts around the world. Some commentators have noted that this legal strategy has been an effort to influence the marketplace from the courtroom [JURIST op-ed]. October has seen a number of rulings in various cases. Earlier this month a UK court ruled that Samsung did not infringe [JURIST report] on an Apple design patent. Also Apple appealed a Tokyo District Court ruling [JURIST report] which dismissed Apple’s claim that Samsung had infringed on its patents. Finally the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed an injunction [JURIST report] issued by the US District Court for the Northern District of California against Samsung in an ongoing patent dispute with Apple.