Apple Inc. has failed to persuade a federal judge to rule that two of Samsung Electronics Co.’s patents are unenforceable, in what was the latest development in the patent litigation between the world’s top two electronics manufacturers.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, said that she would not consider Apple’s arguments about the patents from Samsung because a jury has already ruled in favor of the California-based company, according to news reports on Friday.

In August, a jury found that contrary to Samsung’s claims in a lawsuit against Apple, the iPhone maker has not infringed the two patents ― patents that Samsung considered to be essential to an industry standard for 3G mobile technology.

Regardless of the ruling, Apple had sought a ruling from the judge that the patents were unenforceable on the grounds that Samsung manipulated technology standard-setting process to obtain them.

But the judge said in her ruling that because “these defenses cannot affect the outcome of the present case in light of the jury’s finding of non-infringement, the court, in its discretion, will not consider these defenses at this time.”

The ruling followed a previous ruling from the judge that the $1.05 billion of damage awards Samsung was ordered to pay out to Apple for patent infringement by the same jury in August were miscalculated, and therefore could be reduced.

Many eyes in the electronics sector are watching the legal battle begin anew after the trial hearing opened last week following the unfavorable verdict for Samsung in August.

Experts have predicted that the damages will go down, but are skeptical of the judge completely overturning the verdict.

The lawsuit is critical for both sides, as consumers are waiting to see who will emerge as the winner.

In the smart device market, the race between Apple and Samsung has become neck-and-neck, with Samsung becoming the top smartphone manufacturer last year after trumping the California company.

Yet, even Samsung’s own executives know there may be more catching up to do.

Sohn Young-kwon, president and chief strategy officer for Samsung’s U.S. operations, said while he thinks Samsung phones are better, faster and with a better display, the Samsung experience is “device-centric,” according to an interview he conducted with MIT Technology Review. “It’s experienced by itself. It’s not experienced in a connected way, so we think we can provide a lot more things than what we are doing today with an open ecosystem with our partners,” said Sohn, who uses both Samsung and Apple devices.

By Kim Ji-hyun and news reports
(jemmie@heraldcorp.com)