Apple and Samsung Found Guilty of Infringing Patents in South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea – One small part of the legal battle between Samsung and Apple, which was taking part in the home country of the former, finished with the verdict stating that both companies infringed patents held by the other.

According to the ruling of the three judge panel, Apple was found guilty of infringing two of Samsung’s patents, while Samsung infringed only one of Apple’s patents. As a result, Apple was ordered to stop sales of the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 for infringing on two Samsung wireless technology patents, while Samsung was found in violation of Apple’s “rubber-banding” patent.

Both companies were fined for those violations with Apple being ordered to pay out 20 million won for each patent violation, for a total of 40 million; while Samsung is to pay 25 million won for its infringement. The numbers are far from the 100 million won each company sought at the start of the trial

It is noticeable that the ruling also states that there was “no possibility” that a consumer would confuse the two companies’ smartphones, which is the backbone of many of the legal battles between the companies.