Samsung has lost iPhone legal dispute in Japan, another legal battle on patents and against Apple. It is about a recent dispute involving copyright infringement with regard to a 3G technology that the company has developed. Samsung is one of the top companies in South Korea known globally for its innovative mobile devices. It has been involved in a number of skirmishes with Apple with regard to various copyright claims and has lost most of them. Regulators in Europe, the United States and South Korea have said that Samsung is a little bit too aggressive in fighting for its rights. It has already sought legal action against Apple for various infringements in a number of countries.
The war rages on
Samsung claimed back in 2011 that Apple used data transmission technology that it owned without the appropriate license payments. Apple retorted that Samsung had no right to the transmission technique and therefore need not be paid any amount. The court in Tokyo was not convinced with patent infringement issues but Apple won the case against Samsung. Out of the 24 or so cases of patent infringement that Samsung has filed against Apple worldwide, it won only three. One case was decided in the Netherlands while the other two were filed in South Korea.
Judge and ally?
But there is good news for Samsung despite the setbacks. Apparently, Sir Robin Jacob, a judge based in London is helping the company to a certain degree, having supported Samsung’s follow up complaint against Apple in a case that was decided some time ago. The judge is a professor at the University College London and is an expert in intellectual property rights. He is known in international circles as well. As of January 2013 Sir Robin has been serving as a law consultant for a firm that is facilitating Samsung’s case against a complaint filed by another big company, Ericsson. The case was filed in the United States. A year ago, this judge and two others looked at a ruling that ordered Samsung’s rival to publish a notice in newspapers in the United Kingdom stating that Samsung did not commit an alleged infringement of design rights. Apple complied but Samsung found the notice “misleading.” The judge reprimanded Apple for this lapse of judgment.
The real deal
However, Sir Robin Jacob’s clerk issued a statement clarifying the judge’s role in the proceedings and insisted that there have been no direct discussions between Samsung and the judge and that the recent case filed (vs Ericsson) is not in any way related to the old case against Apple wherein he served as a member of the review panel. Samsung also clarified that Sir Robin Jacob is not under its employ. The judge is currently in Australia and is unavailable for comments, according to the University College London.
Still, lawyers see possible issues on judicial independence given the judge’s involvement in a high profile case that favored Samsung over Apple and Sir Robin’s current role as consultant in another case that involves Samsung. Whether Samsung will benefit from the set-up remains to be seen.
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