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Comment by sgift | Hacker News Reader

Just a quick note (IANAL, but I live in Germany): A district court is a rather low court ("Landgericht" in german, "Amtsgericht" would be lower, but they don't handle such cases). Samsungs next step probably will be to appeal this case at the "Oberlandesgericht". If they also loose there they can appeal the case at the BGH ("Bundesgerichtshof"), which is the highest german court for such court cases (the "Bundesverfassungsgericht" would be a higher court, but only handles matters of constitution). BGH decisions are usually final (ignoring appeals to EU courts).

So, long story short: This is a problem for Samsung, but at the moment nothing is "permanent".

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The highest court the case would likely reach is the BGH. The EU courts aren't really courts of appeals, but concern the interpretation of EU directives etc. If there was an unclear EU directive in this case, the LG should have sent the case straight to the EuGH.

Nevertheless even the decision of the LG itself isn't final, but it concerns a "preliminary injunction". However in cases like these, it is unlikely the end result would be different.

Again a misleading Headline for klicks.

The subject was an injunction, i don't know how the author comes to the conclusion of a permanent ban. This is just a prequel to the real trial.

> ignoring appeals to EU courts

Won't this be relevant for an issue of international trade?

Beyond that, perhaps even WTO appeals would need to be considered...

I think both cases (EU courts/WTO) are relevant but my knowledge of appeals to EU or WTO is shaky, so I cannot comment on this. Maybe someone else can help us out?

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is the highest court in the EU for matters covered by EU laws - if there is a relevant law then presumably the case could get appealed all the way up to the ECJ.

Not sure about the WTO - wouldn't South Korea have to take on Samsung's case there against Germany?

That is correct, only disputes between countries are settled to WTO law. German courts and the ECJ do not apply WTO law.

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