Samsung Elec. loses 2nd patent suit vs. Apple in Germany

A German court on Thursday ruled against Samsung Electronics in the company`s second patent dispute with Apple.

The court in Mannheim turned down the second of three Samsung lawsuits against Apple filed in April last year that claimed the iPhone and iPad violated international communications standard patents. The court had ruled in favor of Apple in its first ruling issued Friday last week on technology designed for integrating and codifying data.

In the second trial, Samsung claimed that Apple infringed on its patent on technology protecting important data from being lost when errors occur in communication, which the court rejected.

Samsung had high expectations that the ruling would go in its favor. The court seemed to favor Samsung in hearings as it cited the so-called Orange Book decision, suggesting, “Even for patents for standards, a user should first offer the patent holder (Samsung) negotiations on patent fees.”

Soon after the ruling, Samsung said in a statement, "We deeply regret it,” but added, “This is only one of the three suits, and we expect the third ruling to show Apple’s violation of our patent.”

The Mannheim court will issue its third ruling March 2 on Apple’s alleged violation of patent on “technique for codifying data to reduce transmission errors.”

jaeyuna@donga.com