Dutch Court Awards Apple Meaningful Victory Over Samsung

A Dutch could has awarded Apple a meaning victory over Samsung reaffirming that the company cannot pursue injunctive relief for Apple's use of its FRAND patents as long as Apple appears willing to negotiate a license on FRAND terms, reports FOSS Patents.

Furthermore, the court held that Samsung cannot assert 3G/UMTS patents against the iPhone 4S due to patent exhaustion: Apple is licensed by extension since it purchases baseband chips from Qualcomm, and Samsung's attempt to terminate its license agreement with Qualcomm as far as third-party beneficiary Apple is concerned failed because Samsung had make a commitment to ETSI, the standards body in charge of 3G, that it would grant irrevocable licenses to its 3G/UMTS-essential patents.

The denial of injunctive relief based on FRAND is an important win for Apple but is also important to the industry. Notably, Samsung has not won any offensive claims against Apple only reversals or denials of decisions previously granted Apple. "Against that background, Samsung is not presently in a position to force Apple into a settlement on the Korean company's preferred terms", says FOSS Patents.


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