Apple-Samsung

Apple targeted by Samsung, S3 in new suits

Apple this week is once again the target of new lawsuits from companies with which it's already entangled in separate legal battles.

The first salvo comes from Samsung. Bloomberg reports that Samsung filed four suits against the company this week, with the first related hearing in the cases to kick off early next week.

A court representative did not tell the news outlet what the Netherlands suits were about, though Samsung has taken aim at Apple in the U.S., Europe, and other countries for allegedly infringing on its patents, with lawsuits targeting the tech giant's portable devices. … Read more

Apple sues Samsung in the U.K. over Android

Apple has sued Samsung in the U.K. courts, further expanding the myriad countries in which it has taken legal action against the Korean manufacturer over its Android products.

The suit was filed on Monday, Samsung told ZDNet UK, explaining that it was a countersuit against action Samsung filed with the High Court in June. Details of both suits remain sketchy, as the patents in question have not been identified in these cases.

Apple's U.K. action against Samsung takes to at least 20 the total number of patent suits between the two companies that are currently under way. … Read more

Samsung tries to be Apple in new Galaxy S II ad

"So we've got to find some way to beat the iPhone," said the Samsung boss.

"I know," retorted a bright spark. "We'll make an ad that sounds like it's for the iPhone."

So it came to pass that Samsung produced its new ad for the Galaxy S II. As the piano intones and the voice of a philosopher expounds, we feel--for more than a moment--that we are in the middle of Appleworld .

"Nobody ever set their sights on second place," says the voice. "Who aspires to be almost … Read more

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 banned from sale in Germany

Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been blocked from sale in Germany following a key court ruling against the company.

A German court today banned the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in its country, arguing that the device infringed Apple patents. According to the AFP, which first reported on the story, judge Johanna Brueckner-Hoffmann said that there is a "clear impression of similarity" between the iPad and Galaxy Tab 10.1.

As one might expect, Samsung is not pleased with the court's decision. In an e-mailed statement to CNET, the company said that it … Read more

Apple should show how Samsung tablet hurts sales, judge says

Apple is being pressured to reveal iPad sales for the U.S. or U.K. in order to prove its tablet business has been nicked by Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1, according to Bloomberg.

Annabelle Bennett, a judge in Australia's federal court, said today that Apple isn't presenting enough evidence to justify an injunction against Samsung's tablet in her country. To prove that the iPad maker's tablet sales have been hurt by Samsung's device, Apple would need to offer sales data to make its case, Bloomberg reported.

Apple has launched bitter patent-infringement disputes on … Read more

Samsung pulls Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet from IFA booth

Samsung has yanked its Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet from the show floor at the IFA consumer-electronics confab in Berlin after Apple received an injunction against the device to go with an earlier ban on sales and marketing of the larger Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany.

Intellectual-property blog Foss Patents reported the news of the removal yesterday, speculating that it had to do with the 10.1 injunction or a newly issued ban specific to the 7.7. Bloomberg today confirmed the issuance of the 7.7 ban. The 7.7 had been on display at IFA on Friday … Read more

Samsung cites Kubrick film in Apple patent spat

In its ongoing legal battle with Apple, Samsung has returned fire against Apple's motion for a preliminary injunction that aims to bar some of its phones and Galaxy Tab in the United States.

In a new filing, picked up by intellectual-property tracking blog Foss Patents, Samsung has opposed the preliminary injunction Apple filed for in early July. While the document is sealed at the moment, Foss points to one of the non-sealed exhibits Samsung is using to go up against Apple, which cites Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey" as clear evidence that tablets … Read more

Samsung: Apple's lawyers should be tossed

The legal fracas between gadget makers Apple and Samsung has reached a new level, with Samsung now vying to get some of Apple's legal team members kicked off the case.

FOSS Patents picked up on a 20-page motion filed by Samsung with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California yesterday, asking to have some of Apple's lawyers from law firm Bridges & Mavrakakis taken off the case. In the filing, Samsung alleges that these lawyers have a conflict of interest under the California Rule of Professional Conduct for having previously worked on Samsung's … Read more

Apple files ITC suit vs. Samsung: Can this marriage be saved?

Apple launched its latest lawsuit against Samsung with an International Trade Commission complaint filed yesterday that seeks an injunction to prevent the Korean giant's key Android smartphones and tablets from being imported into the U.S.

Bloomberg first reported the Apple ITC suit today and Florian Mueller is handicapping those patents in question. Apple has five technical patents and two design patents aimed at Samsung's Android army. In many respects, Apple's move with the ITC isn't surprising. Samsung also has an ITC lawsuit against Apple. Meanwhile, the two parties are duking it out in courtrooms around the world.

As noted before, the strangest thread through these Apple-Samsung duels is that the two parties are key partners. Apple procures memory, screens and components from Samsung. Samsung competes with Apple, which also happens to be the Korean company's largest customer.

The ITC lawsuit reads like the other Apple complaints against Samsung. The gist:

•Apple created categories. •Samsung copied the hardware and designs. •Samsung is trying to poach sales by being a copycat.

This paragraph in the ITC suit sums up Apple's take:

"Many of Apple's innovations have become so popular and so recognized that they have become virtually synonymous with Apple's products and the Apple brand. Indeed, an Apple product can be readily identified, for example, by the way it operates and interfaces with its users...

As a result, Apple's innovations and products have been the subject of widespread imitation by Apple's competitors. Others have attempted to capitalize on Apple's success by copying its innovative technology, distinctive user interface and overall product design."

Apple then goes on to name Samsung as one of Apple's "principal infringers."

Note that Apple's lawsuits revolve around the user experience. What if Android improves to the point where the user experience is seamless? Can Apple sue over that?

Clearly, Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 closes a lot of the hardware gaps with Apple. The difference is that Android is improving, but not quite seamlessly. Apple's aim is to head Samsung off at the pass.

Let's assume that Apple and Samsung settle differences somehow. Apple's relationship with Samsung the supplier and the competition is hard if not impossible to rectify. Money may save the Apple-Samsung marriage, but the odds aren't looking good.

This story was originally was published on ZDNet's Between the Lines. … Read more