German court rules against Samsung Electronics in its lawsuit against Apple

A German district court has ruled against Samsung Electronics in a lawsuit the Korean firm filed against Apple regarding communication patent violations.

The Mannheim Regional Court ruled on Friday that Apple did not infringe on a Samsung patent involving third-generation mobile technology.

Friday’s ruling covers one out of three charges Samsung has lodged against the U.S. firm last April. A ruling on the remaining two charges will come on January 27th and March second.

The recent ruling is the first to be issued on lawsuits between Samsung and Apple filed in a dozen countries.

Samsung said it has yet to decide whether it will file an appeal on the recent ruling and vowed to exert its best efforts to prove Apple’s infringement communication patents.

The German court’s ruling comes after a Dutch court turned down Samsung Electronics’ request for an injunction to ban sales of Apple iPhones and iPad tablets in the Netherlands last October. Apple won lawsuits against Samsung in Germany last September over Samsung’s Galaxy smart phone model but lost in a suit regarding tablet computers. Last Thursday, an Australian high court rejected an appeal by Apple to maintain a sales ban on Samsung Electronics’ tablet computers.