A Japanese court ruled Friday that Samsung can seek only a maximum of around Y9.95 million (US$98,000) in damages from the Japanese unit of Apple, ruling the amount of damages should not exceed a royalty payment under a license agreement, Kyodo News reported.

The Intellectual Property High Court ruled that Samsung's patented data transmission technology has been used in some of Apple's products such as the iPhone 4, but it allowed the U.S. computer and mobile device maker to continue selling the devices without paying the amount of damages sought by Samsung.

It is the first time a court has ruled that a company holding a patent is entitled to damages only up to an amount equivalent to a royalty under a patent licensing agreement. The ruling is in line with high-tech industry guidelines related to standard-essential patents that prevent one company from monopolizing a patented technology, the report said.

Samsung had appealed a February 2013 decision by the Tokyo District Court that Apple did not infringe upon Samsung's data transmission patent in making smartphones and tablet computers.

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