Tokyo court says Samsung infringed on Apple "bounce-back" patent

[OutoftheBlue]

Tokyo court says Samsung infringed on Apple "bounce-back" patent

Men are silhouetted against a video screen with an Apple Inc logo as they pose with a Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone in this photo illustration taken in the central Bosnian town of Zenica, May 17, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Dado Ruvic

TOKYO | Fri Jun 21, 2013 1:04am EDT

(Reuters) - A Tokyo court ruled on Friday that Samsung Electronics Co Ltd had infringed on rival Apple Inc's patent for a "bounce-back" feature on earlier models of its popular smartphones.

Samsung and Apple, the world's top two smartphone makers, are fighting patent disputes in 10 countries as they compete to dominate the lucrative mobile market and win customers with their latest gadgets.

Apple claimed that Samsung had copied the "bounce-back", in which icons on its smartphones and tablets quiver back when users scroll to the end of an electronic document. Samsung has already changed its interface on recent models to show a blue line at the end of documents.

The Japanese court's decision comes after the U.S. Patent and Trademark office judged in April that Apple's patent for the bounce-back feature was invalid, allowing older Samsung models that had a similar feature to remain on sale.

The Tokyo court is scheduled to release more details on the ruling at 0730 GMT.

(Reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo; Writing by Sophie Knight; Editing by Matt Driskill)