Samsung set back twice in Apple litigation

A court in Tokyo twice rejected Samsung Electronics Co.'s request it block Apple from selling its iPhones in Japan. The Asahi Shimbun reported Saturday that the Tokyo District Court ruled against Samsung Sept. 14 and Oct. 11, deciding the American smartphone maker had not infringed on the South Korean phone maker's patents. The Japanese newspaper said Samsung had challenged Apple's use of technology for downloading an app to add new functions to a smartphone and the so-called airplane mode, which ends a phone's communications without turning off the power during flight. The court said the technology was not uniquely Samsung's. In Augusts, Samsung won a billion-dollar patent infringement judgment against Apple in a U.S. court, while a South Korean court the same day said the two firms were guilty of infringing on each other's patented technology.