Samsung fails to delay Microsoft court case over unpaid smartphone royalties

Korean firm unable to persuade a New York court to wait for the results of arbitration

Samsung has lost a bid to delay a court case over patent royalties payable to Microsoft, meaning that the lawsuit will continue in New York despite ongoing arbitration.

A report in the Korea Times quoted US district judge Jed Rakoff as saying that the lawsuit will continue in spite of Samsung's request to wait for the results of arbitration being brokered by a Hong Kong firm.

A local patent expert told the Korea Times that the ruling will result in the court and the arbitration body handling the case separately, which "for the Samsung side isn't satisfactory".

Samsung initiated the arbitration process at the Hong Kong arm of the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce in an attempt to settle a dispute with Microsoft over royalty payments deriving from a partnership between the two companies in the US.

The dispute began in August when Microsoft alleged that Samsung owed $6.9m in interest on over $1bn of royalties payments.

However, Samsung countersued citing anti-trust issues over Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia, which Samsung believed made Microsoft a direct competitor.

Samsung is now trying to have the contract nullified, and has requested the Fair Trade Commission in Korea to review the deal.

The legal tug of war comes at a time when Samsung revealed a significant decline in profits. The smartphone division performed particularly badly after fierce competition from Chinese firms manufacturing budget smartphones.

Samsung has a history of being embroiled in court cases that span legal and national borders, notably clashing with Apple over breached patents.