Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Samsung Sues Apple Over IPhone, IPad, IPod

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest computer-memory chip maker, filed another lawsuit against Apple Inc. (AAPL), claiming the U.S. company infringed patents for technology used in its iPhone and iPad devices.

“Apple has copied many of Samsung’s innovations in its Apple iPhone, iPod and iPad products,” lawyers for the Suwon, South Korea-based company said in a lawsuit filed yesterday in federal court in Delaware.

Samsung also filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington on June 28 seeking to block imports of the devices containing the allegedly infringing technology.

The suit follows litigation in at least four countries as Samsung and Apple, the world’s largest technology company by market value, compete in the mobile-device market. In April, Cupertino, California-based Apple sued Samsung in federal court in Oakland, California, alleging the Korean company’s Galaxy phone and table computers “slavishly” copy the iPhone and iPad.

“They seem to have a lot to talk about,” Seo Won Seok, a Seoul-based analyst at NH Investment & Securities Co., said. “With these steps they are taking now, they seem to be trying to take a favorable position as part of the process to reach an agreement on cross-licensing in the end.”

Prior to the latest lawsuit, Samsung, which also supplies memory chips for Apple, had sued Apple in Seoul,Tokyo, San Francisco and Mannheim, Germany. Apple also has a case pending against Samsung in South Korea.

Trudy Muller, an Apple spokeswoman, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment on the suit.

Samsung’s Delaware suit will be delayed if federal regulators agree to investigate the company’s complaints against Apple. The trade commission typically completes its reviews in 15 to 18 months.

Apple’s April 15 complaint claims Samsung is infringing seven patents related to the way Galaxy devices’ touch screens understand user gestures, including selecting, scrolling, pinching and zooming. Samsung is also copying three patents on the design, including the flat black face of the iPhone and iPad, according to Apple.

Apple also said on April 18 that Samsung “blatantly” copied its technologies and designs.

Samsung had asked a federal judge in the U.S. to order Apple to turn over samples of Apple’s forthcoming iPads and iPhones. It lost that bid on June 22.

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