As people lined up to buy Apple's newest iPhone 5 in many countries Friday, a court in Germany ruled against the tech giant which claimed Samsung and Motorola infringed on its patents.
The Manheim Regional Court in Germany held that the two smartphone rivals of Apple did not infringe on the technology relating to touchscreen's functioning.
Apple has sued its rivals for the "touch event model" patent that relates to the way touchscreen translates finger inputs.
"We welcome today's ruling, which affirms our position that our products do not infringe Apple's intellectual property," Samsung told reporters after the ruling. "We will continue to further develop and introduce products that enhance the lives of German consumers."
Apple was not available for comments.
There are many applications that use the touchscreen technology. These applications run on Google's Android software for phones. Industry analysts had their fingers crossed fearing a verdict favoring Apple. This would have had large repercussions on the smartphone industry, the Huffington Post reported.
Apple and Samsung have been fighting bitter court battles mostly regarding patent infringements for the past three months. In August, a California court asked Samsung to pay over one million in damages to Apple. There is also the possibility that some of the Samsung devices might be banned from sale in the U.S. due to this verdict that found Samsung guilty of infringing on certain Apple patents.
Last week, a Munich court ruled in favor of Apple, passed a ruling saying Motorola had infringed on Apple's "overscroll bounce" patent.
Germany has become the new hotbed of court battles between technology rivals as the courts in the country are speedier, according to the Huffington Post.
