Considering all of the legal noise going on between Apple and Motorola as of late, some folks may have forgotten that there's another battle waging between Apple and Samsung. Today there's been a new development in the German tiff between the latter pair of companies, as Judge Andreas Voss has tossed out two different lawsuits. The first of the pair is another 3G/UMTS-related patent case brought against Apple by Samsung, making it the third such suit to be dismissed as of late.
The other case thrown out by Judge Voss was brought against Samsung by Apple, and is the first of two slide-to-unlock patent suits introduced by the Cupertino firm. Interestingly, Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents notes that this patent claim is similar to the one that got Apple a win against Motorola a couple of weeks back. The court is expected to hand down a decision on Apple's second slide-to-unlock claim in two weeks.
If you're one of the folks that's about to do a little dance after hearing the news that there are two fewer lawsuits going on between Apple and Samsung, you may want to hold off your Charleston for now. Samsung has already said that it plans to appeal today's decision, and Florian Mueller believes that Apple could also appeal since its suit that was tossed today saw some success against Motorola last month. Additionally, Mueller notes that there are 14 known cases between Apple and Samsung in the Mannheim court in Germany, and only four of those have been ruled on. There are also numerous lawsuits around the globe involving Apple, Samsung, Motorola, HTC and others, so it looks like anyone that's enjoying following along with all of these patent cases will have plenty of news to keep up with for the foreseeable future.
Via Engadget, FOSS Patents
