Dutch Court Bans Samsung Galaxy Phone Sales in Europe

Apple won an injunction in a Dutch court on Wednesday against the marketing of three models of Samsung Galaxy smartphones in Europe as of Oct. 15 after a court in The Hague ruled that Samsung has infringed on an Apple photo management patent.

Apple, which is the leading player in the high-end smartphone market with the iPhone, argued that Samsung had infringed on three of its patents. The Dutch court ruled that the Samsung Galaxy S, S II and Ace had breached Apple's photo management patent, which describes a way to scroll through a photo gallery using finger gestures on a touchscreen.

Samsung reportedly infringed on the Apple patent by using the Android 2.3 operating system on those phones. The patent issue can be fixed by updating that software to Android 3.x, Samsung argued in court earlier this month.

The court said the decision was a preliminary ruling and has no bearing whatsoever on the merits of the case. However, a court spokeswoman also said the injunction itself cannot be challenged, Reuters reports.

The judge ruled that Samsung did not infringe on the other two patent claims regarding intellectual copyright and design, and added that the company did not slavishly copy Apple's iPad and iPhone.

The lawsuit is one of many between the two technology companies in courtrooms across the world. Earlier this month, a German court banned the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the European Union, ruling the company had copied the design from Apple. However, the court has reportedly reversed part of its order due to doubts over whether or not it had the jurisdiction to impose those restrictions outside of the country.