A lower court in Paris has denied Samsung attempted ban on the iPhone 4S, saying its claims were “disproportionate.”
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| iPhone 4S is still legal tender in France. |
“The disproportionate character of the ban sought by Samsung against Apple is clear,” Judge Marie-Christine Courboulay said in a ruling delivered yesterday at Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris.
However, the Tribunal is a court of first appeal and Samsung may now take the case before a full court, the Judge said.
Samsung allege the newly launched iPhone 4S infringes on its 3G wireless intellectual patents and demanded the court ban sales of the device, similar to how Apple has sought to ban its Galaxy Tab 10.1 here in Australia, Germany and elsewhere.
“It became clear that the legal standard for a preliminary injunction is reasonably high in France, and Apple’s lawyers made a number of points that I couldn’t verify in their entirety but which appeared strong enough to dissuade the court from ordering a ban,” wrote patents expert, Florian Mueller, who attended the hearing, on his blog.
Samsung will now be forced to pay out Euro100,000 (A$131,000) to Apple towards legal costs.
The case, similar to Samsung and Apple’s messy fight in Australia, with the Koreans seeking to ban iPhone 4S here also, while in return Cupertino has suceeded in banning the sale of Galaxy Tab 10.1, for now, in a biter war has been going on for months and is far from over.
The nasty patents battle taking place between the two tech rivals is taking place in over ten courts worldwide.
In the Eurozone, Samsung has sought to ban iPhone 4S in Britain, France and Italy, the outcome of the latter is to be heard on December 16 next.
Following this, the EU are now investigating Samsung’s use of its intellectual patents, which could mean more headaches ahead for the Koreans.
But its not been all bad for Samsung this week. In the US, a court denied Apple’s bid to ban sales of Galaxy S II smartphone and Galaxy Tab 10.1.
