Samsung Violates Apple’s Bounce-back Patent, Tokyo Court Finds

A number of Samsung smartphones violate Apple’s so-called “rubber-banding” (or “bounce-back”) patent, a Tokyo court found, according to a Reuters report.
The Tokyo patent infringement case is part of Apple’s global fight against Samsung as the two companies seek to dominate the mobile market. According to the court’s findings, older versions of Samsung’s smartphone user interface violate Apple’s patent, as they mimic a feature the Cupertino company has patented as bounce-back.

Although Samsung has already changed the user interface of recent smartphone models, Apple said Samsung had copied the bounce-back feature, and now the Tokyo court has ratified that claim.

Apple’s “rubber-banding” patent — asserted successfully against Samsung in the patent infringement trial of the twenty-first century — has been under scrutiny lately, as it has been re-examined as a result of an anonymous request submitted last year.

The result of the re-examination had a positive outcome for Apple, as the US Patent and Trademark Office has notified Apple that the key claim of US Patent No. 7,469,381 is valid.