Samsung loses second German 3G patent lawsuit against Apple
One week after dismissing Samsung's first German patent infringement lawsuit against Apple, the Mannheim Regional Court also rejected Samsung's second complaint. — Either complaint related to the 3G/UMTS wireless telecommunications standard.
Context & Ripple Effects
Samsung's German campaign against Apple has now gone from threat to retreat. In November 2011, FOSS Patents flagged that Samsung could win German injunctions over its 3G/UMTS portfolio; by mid-December it had added four new patents in Germany while backtracking on the iPhone 4S. The Mannheim Regional Court then rejected the first complaint on January 20 and this second one a week later.
The breadth of pickup — Reuters, The Verge, Engadget, Electronista all carried the ruling — reflects how central Germany had become to Samsung's leverage strategy. It comes days after Strategy Analytics put Apple narrowly ahead of Samsung in Q4 2011 smartphone unit shipments, so Samsung is losing courtroom ground at the same moment it is losing the volume crown.
First-order effects
- Samsung's bid to force an Apple settlement through German injunction threats loses its core instrument: both Mannheim complaints over the 3G/UMTS standard have failed within seven days.
- Apple exits January with no German sales ban to defend against, strengthening its position in the broader cross-license negotiation the two companies have been circling.
Second-order effects
- With the German route closed for now, Samsung's remaining leverage has to come from other venues and other patents, raising the cost of a strategy built on standard-essential claims.
- Apple's courtroom wins give other handset makers facing FRAND-based injunction demands a citable precedent that German courts will scrutinize such claims rather than grant quick bans.
Third-order effects
- If Mannheim's pattern holds across Samsung's remaining filings, standard-essential patents lose their value as injunction weapons and the smartphone patent war tilts toward damages and licensing terms rather than market exclusion.
The trend: Smartphone litigation is shifting from injunction-seeking over standard-essential patents toward a damages-and-leverage contest, as German courts repeatedly decline to hand SEP holders quick sales bans.