A Japanese court will make a ruling this week on a patents lawsuit between Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc similar to the lawsuit ongoing in the United States.

Japanese media reported a regional court in Tokyo will make a mid-way decision on Aug. 31 over the patents case where Apple has sued a Japanese branch of Samsung Electronics.

The mid-way decision serves as a tool to determine the judge’s position on main outstanding points of the case before the final ruling.

The court is not expected to award damages in this week’s announcement.