The Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation overturned the decision to ban the sale of Samsung smartphones due to a patent dispute

The Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal denied the Swiss company Sqwin SA the requirement to ban the sale of 61 Samsung smartphones in Russia as an interim measure. Appropriate decision published on the website of the court.

In October, the Moscow Arbitration Court banned Samsung import into Russia, sale and storage of 61 models of the company’s smartphones due to a patent dispute. Under the ban, among other things, were the flagship Galaxy S21, Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Fold lines. However, this decision was appealed and has not yet entered into force.

The Swiss company demanded a ban on the sale of smartphones until the entry into force of the court decision, since, according to the statement, the further sale of Samsung devices leads to significant losses for Sqwin SA.

The decision of the Court of Appeal calls the plaintiff’s arguments “presumptive”, and also notes that the Swiss company did not provide evidence of the unfair behavior of the defendants.

Sqwin SA has filed a lawsuit alleging that Samsung Pay is using the patent without the consent of the copyright holder. The application for a patent by Sqwin SA in Russia was filed in 2013, and the technology described in the patent allows making contactless payments using a mobile phone. The author of the invention is Viktor Gulchenko, who lives in Switzerland.

Samsung Pay was launched in 2015, and appeared in Russia in 2016. According to the National Financial Research Agency, the Samsung Pay payment service in March 2021 was in third place in terms of popularity in Russia. It is used by 17% of Russians, while Google Pay and Apple Pay are used by 32% and 30%, respectively.

Lawyers reported that Samsung could challenge not only the court decision, but also the registration of the patent itself due to the lack of novelty in it. Later, Samsung applied to Rospatent with a request to cancel the patent of the Swiss Sqwin SA.