Samsung Electronics has hit back at Apple by filing a patent infringement lawsuit in Seoul, Tokyo and Germany. The move follows a decision by Apple earlier this week to take on Samsung a key partner of the Company for alleged patent infringement
Samsung Electronics has hit back at Apple by filing a patent infringement lawsuit in Seoul, Tokyo and Germany. The move follows a decision by Apple earlier this week to take on Samsung a key partner of the Company for alleged patent infringement.
The Samsung lawsuits don’t directly respond to the Apple suit. Instead, they accuse Apple of violating patents covering mobile phone transmission technologies according to the Wall Street Journal.
In a statement issued earlier today in Seoul Samsung said “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,” the company said in a statement.
A company spokesman said Samsung’s suits allege that Apple infringed on patents that the South Korean company holds for transmission optimisation and reduction of power usage during data transmission, 3G technology for reducing data-transmission errors and a method of tethering a mobile phone to a PC to enable the PC to utilise the phone’s wireless data connection.
Recently Apple lost two patent cases against HTC and Nokia.
Bloomberg said that the move deepens a legal dispute that’s pitting the maker of the iPhone and iPad against the producer of the Galaxy mobile devices amid surging demand for smartphones and tablet computers. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs, who relies on Samsung to supply chips for Apple products, said last month the company was among the tablet makers angling to make 2011 the “Year of Copycats”
“Apple is trying to annoy Samsung – they’re throwing a ball at Samsung to keep them in check,” said Chang Sea Jin, a business professor at National University of Singapore. “This is strictly business. The typical way to deal with cases like this is to counter sue. It’s not between the management of Samsung and Apple, their lawyers will work it out.”
