Russian court overturns ban on sale of Samsung phones in patent lawsuit

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Samsung Electronics is seen at its office building in Seoul, South Korea South Korea, October 11, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court has overturned a previous ruling barring Samsung Electronics from importing and selling 61 models of smartphones in Russia in an intellectual property lawsuit pertaining to its Samsung Pay system, court documents showed.

The lawsuit filed by Switzerland-based company SQWIN SA claimed that Samsung Pay infringes on its electronic payment system patent registered in Russia.

In a ruling dated Jan. 27, but first reported by Russian media on Monday, the Moscow Arbitration Court said it had dismissed SQWIN SA's appeal.

Samsung and SQWIN SA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The ruling said SQWIN SA had failed to show that Samsung had acted in bad faith.

In an October ruling the court listed 61 Samsung models the company was prohibited from importing and selling in Russia, citing the patent numbers.

It was unclear if all 61 listed models have been removed from the Russian market since the October ruling.

(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov and Alexander Marrow; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)