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Court Rules for Apple NASDAQ:AAPL

A Dutch court ruled Wednesday that Samsung Electronics Co. SE:005930.SE has breached a patent held by Apple Inc in some of its phones and tablet computers, this the latest step of an ongoing war over patent violations between the 2 tech giants in courtrooms around the world.

The patent infringed relates to technology that allows scrolling through a photo gallery on a SmartPhone or tablet. The technology is used by certain of Samsung’s devices using Android 2.2.1 to 3.0 software.

The court said Samsung must pay damages based on its profits from the sales of the devices.

This amount is expected to be minimal. The ruling follows on from an earlier case in August last year, when Samsung was forced to change its software in the devices mentioned. As a result of that earlier ruling, devices carrying the patent in question haven’t been sold since October last year.

Last year’s case followed a fast-track procedure and Samsung had requested a re-run following the full procedure to ensure legal certainty, according to a person involved with the case.

A spokeswoman for Samsung said: “Samsung is disappointed with the court’s ruling. Apple has been trying to limit consumer choice and discourage innovation. We remain confident that our products are unique, and we will continue to take all available measures to protect consumer choice in the Netherlands.”

Apple declined to comment.

Last month, Samsung won a case against Apple in the same court concerning an alleged infringement of an Apple patent for touchscreen application that is crucial to many SmartPhones.