Samsung Fails to Win Italian iPhone Ban

An Italian judge has ruled against Samsung's attempt to ban the sale of Apple's (NAS: AAPL) iPhone 4S in Italy.

The ruling, part of a worldwide patent battle between Samsung and Apple, is the third European court judgment to go against Samsung after similar decisions were made in favor of Apple in French and Dutch courts late last year. The French judge rejected Samsung's preliminary injunction as being a "disproportionate" measure.

Commenting on the Italian outcome, a Samsung spokesman told Bloomberg that the decision was "very disappointing, and would review the ruling and consider all available measures to further protect our intellectual property rights and stop this free riding on our technology." The legal dispute revolves around Samsung's claim that Apple has infringed patents related to W-CDMA.

Steve Park, an Apple spokesman in Seoul, restated the company's earlier response to the dispute that Apple needs to protect its intellectual property against "blatant copying."

The decision to proceed with a preliminary injunction, a route taken by both companies, appears to have failed, as seen with Apple's attempt in the U.S. to stop the sale of four Samsung products. The South Korean company has said that this approach has "wasted time and energy," adding that it would now focus on regular proceedings in these court actions.

Speaking to the Korea Times, Florian Mueller, a German-based patent expert who runs the FOSS Patents blog, said that both firms have been attempting to rush through legal action in an effort to disrupt each other's business. "They're both going to have to focus on regular, full-blown proceedings rather than the fast-track proceedings triggered by requests for preliminary injunctions," Mueller said.

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