The Regional Court in Mannheim was set to rule in a case Apple brought against Samsung alleging that the South Korean electronics manufacturer had infringed on a utility model, a patent-like intellectual property right available under German law. According to Apple, Samsung's touch devices infringe on its utility model for ""

The court decided to suspend the lawsuit pending a validity case filed with the German Federal Patent Court, Mannheim Regional Court spokesman Joachim Bock said in an email.

Last Friday the Mannheim court also another case pitting Apple against Samsung while the Federal Patent Court hears Samsung's challenge to the validity of an Apple patent related to photo galleries.

While German judges can decide to wait for the result of a challenge to a patent's validity before finding that the patent has been infringed and granting an injunction, such a move is unusual. In the majority of German patent cases judges are inclined to grant an injunction before the Federal Patent Court rules on validity.

The Federal Patent Court did not immediately respond to a request for information concerning Samsung's challenge to the utility model's validity. Last Friday it said there are validity cases pending between Apple and Samsung, and that while no date had been set for oral proceedings the cases are most likely to begin at the end of this year or the beginning of next year.