A Dutch court on Wednesday ruled that Samsung Electronics did not infringe on design-related patents of Apple Inc. for its Galaxy tablets, including the flagship 10.1.

“We welcome the court’s decision, as making unreasonable claims involving the general design will not be helpful for the consumers or for the development of the industry,” the Suwon-based company said in a statement.

Samsung and Apple have been enmeshed in a high-profile patent battle for over a year now, with Samsung ordered to pay damages to Apple by a U.S. court in August last year.

Both sides have refused to back down, but a recent turn of events hint at the opposite.

According to Florian Mueller, the writer of FOSS Patents, a popular blog known for carrying accurate information, Samsung and Apple recently reached an agreement to only include their latest gadgets ― the Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5 ― in round two of their patent infringement war in San Jose.

FOSS Patents said the two rivals filed what is called a “joint stipulation” with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California during a hearing late on Tuesday.

The move means that the two companies agreed not to put additional products on the patent infringement list, which is leading many industry insiders to believe that they may be heading for a compromise, or even reconciliation.

The court case is to begin in March next year, following the completion of the patent suit between the two firms in San Jose.

Apple, in the meantime, has appealed a federal judge’s denial of its request to permanently ban 26 Samsung products in the U.S.

Earlier in December, Judge Lucy Koh rejected Apple’s motion to block the sale of smartphones including the Fascinate, Epic 4G and Galaxy S2. Koh said Apple had failed to make the case that the patent-infringing features claimed by the U.S. firm were significant enough to impact consumers’ purchase decisions.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)