Apple Inc. (AAPL) won a Dutch sales ban on some of Samsung Electronics Co. (005930)’s older Galaxy tablets and smartphones after a Netherlands court ruled in a patent lawsuit.
Samsung’s Galaxy products using certain versions of Google Inc (GOOG)’s Android operating system infringe an Apple patent describing a way to navigate images in a photo gallery, Judge Peter Blok said today.
Samsung last year tweaked a feature on the smartphones to bypass a Dutch injunction. Today’s ban concerns products that are still on the market with the old patent-infringing feature.
The two companies continue to clash over the intellectual property behind the $219 billion smartphone market, even after Apple settled all its lawsuits with HTC Corp. (2498) earlier this month. Samsung is trying to hit back after a California court ruled in August it had to pay $1.05 billion for copying Apple products.
Samsung must pay Apple a penalty of 100,000 euros ($129,000) every day it violates the ruling, the Dutch court said. Samsung also has to tell Apple how much profit it made from sales of infringing Galaxy products since June 2011. A separate court procedure will determine how much of that profit Samsung must pay Apple.
The ruling is the latest in a long line of disputes in courts across the globe as the rivals fight for dominance in the smart phone and tablet-computer markets. (Bloomberg)
