The Rechtbank 's-Gravenhage, a court in The Hague, Netherlands, ruled on Thursday that Samsung did not infringe on an Apple patent known as EP'948, one of Apple's patents governing multitouch functionality in touch devices. The ruling effectively is an affirmation on an earlier fast-track ruling to that same effect that was issued in 2011.
EP'948 is a patent on "touch event model," which is patentese that more or less means when a touch device is allowed to interpret touch input, multitouch input in this case. According to FOSS Patents, Apple has sought a wide interpretation of its patents in European courts, but so far, those courts weren't having it.
A German court has ruled that Samsung didn't violate the patent, while a UK court went so far as to invalidate the patent. The Rechtbank 's-Gravenhage said that its ruling was similar to those rulings, but Florian Mueller noted that the ruling was based on a different Samsung counterclaim than the counterclaim that won in Germany.
This isn't likely to have much meaning, as the courts in question aren't keen on Apple's patent in the first place, but Mr. Mueller noted that it could end up mattering in the appeals process.
As part of the ruling, Apple has been ordered to pay Samsung's court costs of more than US$400,000 related to this case.