Apple wins right to "thinnest smartphone" and expands Samsung patent fight to UK

Apple won a minor marketing battle against Samsung in the UK as it expanded its larger, global patent war with Samsung into the UK courts as well.

Apple's marketing of its 9.3mm iPhone 4 as the "world's thinnest smartphone" in the UK was challenged by Samsung after it released its Galaxy S II, with a body that is mostly 8.71mm thick.

When the UK's Advertising Standards Authority stepped into arbitrate, it determined that Apple's device was indeed thinner, noting "that the Galaxy S II had prominent bulges at the top of the device," according to a report by the Guardian.

The ASA further reported on its decision, "Apple said consumers would not be interested in the thinnest part of the device, but in its overall measurements, as these would, for example, affect whether the device could fit into a pocket or purse."

The ASA added that it had sided with Apple "because the iPhone 4's thickest point was thinner than the thickest point of the Samsung Galaxy S II."

Apple sues Samsung in the UK, its 20th jurisdiction to file suit in

Meanwhile, Apple has separately filed suit against Samsung in the UK over patents, a case that according to Samsung was a countersuit to patent claims filed by Samsung in June the company told ZDNet.

Apple and Samsung are also engaged in active patent battles in the US, Japan, South Korea, Germany, The Netherlands, the American ITC, Italy, France and Australia.