Samsung Moves to Kill Apple Patent Appeal in Japan

Samsung is hoping to convince a judge to dismiss Apple's appeal in their patent infringement fight in Japan. The Tokyo District Court ruled last August that Samsung's mobile devices didn't infringe on Apple's media synchronization patent -- a ruling that clearly didn't sit well with Apple.

Samsung asks Japan court to dump Apple patent ruling appealSamsung asks Japan court to dump Apple patent ruling appeal

Apple's patent infringement fight against Samsung in Japan stumbled last August when the court ruled that the electronics maker wasn't infringing on patents describing a system for synchronizing music and other media between computers and mobile devices. Apple claimed Samsung's media syncing system used patented techniques such as checking the length of songs or videos to identify items to sync, while Samsung said its system relies on file name and size instead.

The court ultimately sided with Samsung, leading Apple to file an appeal in October.

The two companies have been fighting in courts around the world over mobile device patent infringement claims. The highest profile win so far went to Apple last fall when a U.S. Federal court ruled that the company wasn't infringing on Samsung's patents while at the same time ruling Samsung was infringing on a long list of Apple patents. That ruling also scored Apple over US$1 billion in damages.

Samsung presented its argument to dismiss Apple's appeal on Monday, and Bloomberg reports the two companies are scheduled to appear in court again to continue the debate on March 21.