HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- A South Korean court hearing mutual patent lawsuits between Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc. delivered a split decision Friday, leaving analysts divided over whether either company emerged as a clear winner.
The three-judge panel ruled that Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple (AAPL) had violated two Samsung patents, while Samsung (005930) violated one of Apple's.
The Seoul Central District Court ordered both companies to halt sales of electronic products that infringe patents in South Korea.
It also ordered Apple to pay a nominal 20 million won ($17,650) for each of its patent violations, while Samsung was ordered to compensate Apple with 25 million won.
On balance, analysts said they were surprised by the scale of the sales ban.
Although the patent-infringement issues don't apply to either Samsung or Apple's latest products, they affect several devices launched in the last two to three years, such as Apple's iPhone 4, according to Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Mark Newman in Hong Kong.
There was no clear winner from the court's ruling, he said, calling it a "mixed bag" that would penalize both companies in certain respects.
