Samsung Targets iPhone 5 In Patent Wars
There’s a interesting patent battle that’s building between Apple and Samsung. Recently, Apple won a court order to ban Samsung from selling it’s 10.1 Galaxy Tab in Germany. Apple’s claim was that the 10.1 Galaxy Tab was basically stealing the look, design, and functionality, of the iPad. Apple also won a case banning Samsung’s device in Australia.
Of course, none of this is making Samsung very happy. So with the iPhone 5 looming, Samsung decided to take a preemptive strike at Apple by filing a case in South Korea that Apple’s next generation iPhone – the iPhone 5 – is actually violating Samsung patents. Samsung is actually seeking to ban the iPhone 5 from releasing in South Korea.
According to Korea Times, ”Just after the arrival of the iPhone 5 here, Samsung plans to take Apple to court here for its violation of Samsung’s wireless technology related patents,“ said a senior executive from Samsung Electronics, asking not to be identified.
“For as long as Apple does not drop mobile telecommunications functions, it would be impossible for it to sell its i-branded products without using our patents. We will stick to a strong stance against Apple during the lingering legal fights.“
Samsung needs to be careful, however, with their approach toward Apple. For one thing, the two largest mobile phone carriers in South Korea are relying heavily on the iPhone 5 release to dramatically improve their bottom line. If Samsung disrupts this, it will not look good on Samsung and could quite possibly jeopardize Samsung devices from being carriers by their phone companies.
And finally, Apple is Samsung’s biggest customer for their NAND flash memories and application processors for iDevices. Samsung would be wise to not jeopardize this relationship and possibly send Apple looking for a new manufacturer of these components.
