Samsung trumps Apple in Tokyo court

Apple has failed to extend its US legal victory over Samsung to Japan, after a judge in Tokyo rejected a similar patent-infringement claim to that won by Apple in California.

The judge ruled that the South Korean technology giant had not violated Apple patents by copying a feature of the US group’s iPhone and iPad mobile devices that allows them to synchronize music and video files with computers. The Japanese suit targeted only the synchronization feature, but the potential impact was significant. The iPhone has been the top-selling smartphone in Japan for most of the period since its introduction but Samsung’s Galaxy devices have been making inroads. The Galaxy SIII displaced the iPhone 4S at the top of the sales rankings immediately after its launch in late June. It is not clear how important Japan is for Samsung as a single market, as Samsung does not provide sales figures for the country. But analysts estimate that Asia excluding China accounts for about one-fifth of Samsung’s mobile phone shipments.