Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) recently lost their appeal against Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) over a patent lawsuit ruling in Japan. According to Bloomberg, the court ruled in favor of the South Korean tech company as they upheld the lower court ruling that Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) didn’t infringe on the Apple patent that was similar to synchronizing music and videos on Galaxy tablets and phones.
Samsung Beats Apple In This Round
Last August, Tokyo’s District Court initially ruled that Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) didn’t infringe. Samsung shared their thoughts with CNET on the matter, “We welcome the court’s decision, which reaffirmed our long-held position that our products do not infringe Apple’s intellectual property. For decades, we have heavily invested in pioneering the development of technological innovations in the mobile industry, which have been constantly reflected in our products. We will continue to take all necessary measures to ensure the availability of our highly innovative products to consumers in Japan.”
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) have been duking it out in court for years. Both companies want to remain the leader of mobile technology and so they sue each other in court over patents. They each scored victories in the lawsuits but it doesn’t appear that these companies will stop suing each other anytime soon. The smartphone market is big business right now and neither of them want to take the lead in smartphone sales.
Sands are Shifting in Smartphone Markets
The tablet market in Japan is changing. Shipments for tablet computers has doubled to 5.86 million units in the year that ended last March. Although Samsung had about 4.3 percent of the market, Apple had 53 percent.
Smartphone shipments are also increasing. Bloomberg reports, “Smartphone shipments rose 4 percent to 6.81 million units in Japan during the first three months of 2013, according to research company IDC. Apple had 40 percent of sales, while Samsung didn’t rank in the top five, the researcher said last week. Globally, Samsung has about 33 percent of the smartphone market and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) about 18 percent, according to data released by Strategy Analytics in April.”
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will continue their huge battle in the United States next year.
