Back in August, a Seoul court ruled that both Apple and Samsung did indeed infringe on one another’s patents. As a result, both companies ultimately had several devices banned. Apple of course filed to delay the ban of the company’s iPhone and iPad. Unfortunately for Samsung, Apple’s request has been granted.

It is unclear as to whether or not Samsung will file a similar request. In light of the ruling directed at Apple, it now seems that Samsung would be rather foolish not to. Of course doing so may just be prolonging the inevitable. Either way, we are not going to see any major progress between the two companies anytime soon.

It is rather clear as to why these two companies are fighting over control of the smartphone market. The current smartphone market is valued at over $219 billion worldwide. The desire to control this lucrative industry has driven the companies to become entangled between patent disputes on four separate continents. However, the only case that has seen a final verdict was the case in San Jose, CA, which required Samsung to pay $1 billion in damages.

These patent disputes are obviously spiraling out of control. It seems that no matter what the rulings are, no verdict is going to make many company come out any further ahead than the other.