A U.S. federal court has ruled that Samsung (News - Alert) Electronics Co. did not wilfully infringe on the patents of Apple (News - Alert) Inc. This is reported to have foiled Apple’s plans to continue collecting damages after it was awarded $1.05 billion last August. Had the decision been made in favor of Apple, Samsung could have been forced to pay more than $3 billion.

Lucy Koh, US District Court Judge, wrote that Apple had not adequately show how it had suffered as a result of Samsung’s purported design imitation. Instead, she continued, the company focused more on how well Samsung had done as a result of this purported imitation, to the extent that damages already awarded were not to be enhanced.

Despite this ruling, both Samsung and Apple made requests for a new trial, which were denied; Samsung wished to overturn a previous verdict in favor of Apple and Apple wished to bring another patent infringement to the judge.

Apple and Samsung’s rivalry extends from the courtroom into the market, as the two struggles against each other for supremacy. Together, the companies control about half of the global smartphone market, in sales, which grew by 43 percent in 2012.

According to Strategy Analytics (News - Alert), a market research firm, Samsung shipped roughly 213 million units (30 percent) in 2012, versus Apple’s 135.8 million (19.4 percent).

Apple has seen been on a litigation spree since 2011, winning a number of valuable rulings despite recent loses – including one resulting in $1.05 billion in damages and the pre-trial sales ban of a number of Samsung’s products.

Investors are worried, however, as Apple is reported to have missed revenue forecasts by Wall Street for the third consecutive quarter. Samsung has capitalised on the misfortune of its competitor by promoting innovation and aggressively marketing its product range. Shares in Samsung closed up 2.2 percent on yesterday in Seoul.

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