A Tokyo district court ruled Friday that Samsung Electronics infringed on patents held by Apple related to a feature used in displaying documents on mobile devices. The patent examined in court is related to the feature whereby the icons and display interface appear to "bounce" when the user scrolls to the end of a document or file. Previously, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had rejected Apple's patent claims on the feature.

The court has not yest decided on any appropriate compensation for Samsung to pay Apple.

Last year, a Tokyo court said Samsung's smartphones and tablets didn't violate Apple's patent for the synchronization of music and video data on devices with servers.

Samsung and Apple are competing for dominance of the global mobile-device market. Since 2011, their ongoing legal dispute has expanded to many countries, including Germany, France and Australia.