Samsung was hit last week with a lawsuit from Apple, so Samsung decided to throw one right back at Apple, countersuing the technological juggernaut over claims of patent infringement.
In the suit filed in Seoul Central District Court, Samsung claims that Apple has violated Samsung patents. In addition to the Seoul suit, Samsung also filed a suit in Tokyo, saying that Apple is also responsible for two more patent infringements. But Samsung wasn’t done there, they also filed a third suit in Manheim, Germany citing three additional instances of infringement.
If you take a look at the Samsung website, there is a statement noting that Samsung is “responding actively to the legal action taken against us in order to protect our intellectual property and to ensure our continued innovation and growth in the mobile communications business.”
So in a nutshell, Samsung is claiming that Apple has violated a lot of key patents. According to Samsung, the infringements that Samsung says Apple violated include: HSPA telecommunications technology for transmission optimization and the reduction of power usage during data transmission; WCDMA telecommunications technology for reducing data transmission errors; and technology for tethering a mobile phone to a PC to enable the PC to utilize the phone’s wireless data connection.
Apple launched their suit against Samsung last week claiming that Samsung’s smartphones, as well as the company’s new tablet, violate Apple’s intellectual property rights in the design of mobile devices. The suit filed by Apple is targeting the Galaxy phones and Galaxy Tab by Samsung and a few of Samsung’s other smartphones. Apple is claiming that Samsung also copied Apple’s user interface and design.
According to James Song, an analyst at Daewoo Securities, “Apple is quite annoyed by Samsung’s fast rise in a market. It’s quite threatening to see how quickly Samsung plays catchup, and Apple might have felt a strong urge to put a brake on its march just when Samsung is set to roll out a new smartphone in May ahead of its new iPhone.”
Samsung is all set to release their new Galaxy S II smartphone at the beginning of May and the company currently offers a plethora of phones as a part of their Galaxy lineup, like the Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy Indulge and Galaxy Prevail. Samsung is also lining up new editions of the Galaxy Tab to add to their current 7-inch tablet. A 10.1-inch dual-core edition of the Galaxy Tab as well as two thinner models are currently in the works as well.
This legal tug-of-war could very well put a damper on the two companies’ relationship. Apple leans heavily on Samsung for chips and LCD displays for the iPhone and iPad and the two are also reported to be making a big deal where Apple will secure $7.8 billion worth of displays and processors from Samsung.
Source – CNET – Samsung countersues Apple over patents
