Seoul court bans several Apple products through verdict

A Seoul court on Friday ordered Apple to stop selling certain products in Korea for infringing on two patents held by Samsung Electronics for wireless communications, and rejected Apple`s claim that Samsung Galaxy phones infringed on its design patent.

With the ruling by the Seoul Central District Court, all eyes are on the pending verdict on a similar case in California due Friday in the so-called patent war worth 2.75 billion U.S. dollars between Samsung and Apple.

The court ruled that Apple infringed on Samsung Patent No. 975 related to a technology related to CDMA wireless and Patent No. 900 related to another mobile communications technology. The American tech giant was ordered to pay 40 million won (35,000 dollars) in damages to Samsung and halt sales of patent-infringing products in Korea, such as the iPhone 3GS, iPhone4, iPad 1 and iPad 2.

The ruling will not affect the iPhone 4S and iPad3, which are sold in Korea. Based on this ruling, however, both items could also be banned in Korea if Samsung sues because the same technologies are used in these products.

The court also said Samsung infringed on Apple`s patent on a bounce-back feature, ordering the company to pay Apple damages of 25 million won (22,000 dollars). It also banned the domestic sale of Samsung`s patent-infringing products including the Galaxy SII smartphone.

On the key dispute over design patents, the court dismissed Apple`s claim by saying, "Apple`s claim of infringement of six design patents, Apple`s innovation and creativity shall not be admitted and Samsung shall not be viewed to have infringed on Apple`s design patents."

In San Jose, California, a nine-member jury entered the third day of deliberations at 9 a.m. Friday in an Apple-Samsung patent case being tried in a U.S. district court.

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