Samsung Is Faulted Over Apple's Patents

Samsung Electronics of South Korea, the world’s top maker of smartphones, infringed on Apple’s patents to make its smartphones and tablets, a federal trade panel judge ruled on Wednesday.

Apple filed a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission in mid-2011, accusing Samsung of infringing on its patents in making the Captivate, Transform and Fascinate smartphones, and the Galaxy Tablet.

In a preliminary decision from the commission, Judge Thomas Pender said Samsung had infringed on four Apple patents but had not violated two others listed in the complaint. One of the seven listed initially was dropped.

The full International Trade Commission will decide in February whether to uphold or reject the judge’s decision.

Samsung was found to have infringed on an Apple patent that helps the touch screen interpret whether the user wants, for example, to scroll up and down or switch between applications. Samsung was also found to have infringed on a patent that allows the device to show an image on a screen with a second, translucent image over it.

Apple is waging war on several fronts against Google, whose Android software powers many of Samsung’s devices. The battles between Apple and Samsung have occurred in about 10 countries as the companies for market share in the booming mobile industry.

Apple won a sweeping legal victory over Samsung in August when a jury in a federal court in California found that Samsung had copied critical features of the popular iPhone and iPad and awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages. Samsung has appealed.

Apple has asked the federal court and the trade commission to permanently ban Samsung products that infringe on Apple patents. Neither the judge nor the commission has ruled.

A Dutch court ruled Wednesday that Samsung had not infringed on Apple patents by using certain multitouch techniques on some Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablet computers.