Just a few days after Apple's legal victory against rival Samsung in the U.S., a Tokyo court on Friday dismissed Apple's claim that Samsung had infringed on its patent.
Samsung welcomed the Tokyo District Court ruling that its technology to synchronize mobile players with computers did not infringe on Apple patents as confirming "our long-held position."
"We will continue to offer highly innovative products to consumers, and continue our contributions toward the mobile industry's development," the company said in a statement.
Apple declined comment.
Judge Tamotsu Shoji said he did not think Samsung products fell into the realm of Apple technology and dismissed the lawsuit, filed by Apple in August last year.
Last week a jury in California ruled that Samsung products illegally used such Apple creations as the "bounce-back" feature when a user scrolls to an end image, and the ability to zoom text with a tap of a finger.
The jury awarded Apple $1 billion in damages, and a judge is now evaluating Apple's request to have eight Samsung products pulled from shelves and banned from the U.S. market, including popular Galaxy model smartphones.
According to a Korea Times report, Samsung has "confirmed that it will immediately sue Apple if the latter releases products using advanced long-term evolution (LTE) mobile technology." Samsung claims that it holds fully 10% of all LTE patents issued so far, meaning it could have ample firepower to take on Apple over its use of LTE in future smartphone releases.
This might cause a problem for Apple as its upcoming iPhone is alleged to come equipped with LTE connectivity.