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Samsung Countersues Apple for 10 Patents Infringed Upon

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Oh you didn’t think Samsung would take this court beating lying down, did you? Nope. Just a couple of days after we learned Apple may have gotten a bit of their inspiration from Samsung, the folks at Samsung have announced a countersuit against Apple for patent infringement.

These patents have nothing to do with hardware and software design as Apple are suing them for, though. They have more to deal with the underlying technology inside the iPhone. Things such as reduced battery consumption during data transmission, reduced errors during 3G data transmission, and more.

In a statement, Samsung said  they are “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.”

This whole battle is as interesting as interesting will get in this industry. Although, yes, Samsung clearly draws inspiration from Apple for their flagship products, Apple relies on Samsung for many things inside their phones.

Samsung’s leverage as a semiconductor vendor and a supplier of many different components for many different companies – Apple included – might ultimately help them in this battle. At the end of the day, Apple may have no choice but to stand down if Samsung ever threatens to cut their partnership with the Curpertino giant.

And I’m not saying things will definitely get that extreme and I’m not saying it would spell doom for the iPhone and iPad if Samsung were to do that, but it’d definitely put them in check before sending their hounds out to sue the pants off of everyone who poses a threat. [Reuters]

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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35 Comments

  1. Ha! Countersue? That’s right Apple take it like a plan!
    ..lolol

    1. umm..you`re hot :)

      1. LOL!! This made my day…

  2. Apple might have shot themselves in the foot. I think Mr. Jobs is getting frustrated with android kicking their ass in the smartphone market. They don’t wanna mess directly with Google so they are targeting vendors like Samsung. It’s Funny when you blame someone of copying when you yourself did the same thing.
    It must be interesting to have the fanboys comment on the tracking apple has been doing. I am sure they would react the same way If Mr. Jobs want to track us then it must be good for us we need a chaperon until we grow up.

    1. They are taking a page from the MS play book here. MS went after Linux cutsomers instead of going after vendors of the product.

      1. Those links are also counting ipod’s and ipads.

  3. this should be fun to watch apple run, because samsung has apple by the balls. Apple requests tons of hardware from samsung (not under samsung’s name), so samsung could easily cut off their supply of major/key things manufactured for apple in china/korea

    1. You mean they have them by the apples lol

  4. Apple is a FUCKING sue happy company. They aren’t trying to beat their competition through the STORES, they try to do it through the COURTS!!

    THATS WHY I FUCKING HATE THEM! THEY ARE HYPOCRITES AND FUCKING WANT EVERYONE TO DRINK THEIR FUCKING KOOL AID!!

    FUCK I’M SO MAD!

    HEY APPLE THEIR ARE 6 BILLION PEOPLE ON THE PLANET! WE DON’T WANT JUST ONE PHONE! EVERYONE HAVE DIFFERENT OPINIONS, STYLES, TASTES, COLOR, AND PREFERENCES LET THE PEOPLE CHOOSE!!

    1. Apple is cleaning the floor w/ all competitors. It’s the competition that seems to just copy…

    2. you need counseling. Is the fact that apple is suing samsung affect you and and your family in any way. R u going to lose your job, house, car because apple is suing another company. Its not that serious dude

  5. Jobs should know better than to mess w/ the Korean Mafia (aka Samsung). He’s going to get disappeared whilst taking a stroll one morning. And it will be magical.

  6. You know what I realized yesterday, Apple doesnt really get sued ….until Apple tries to sue other people. They way I see it, other folks dont really mind Apple using their tech with no extra compensation. Apple tho….starts poking their mouths out when other folks “use them for inspiration”

    Apple might wanna start looking in the mirror, and do some self evaluations.

    1. Maybe most companies don’t sue unless it’s really egregious because the lawyer fees will cost as much as any possible licensing fees they would have obtained. . . but Apple is like a spoiled child in a sandbox of toys that never learned to share and play well with others–that’s mine, get away. . . whack! as he steals the other child’s toy.

      And we can all see where this attitude comes from. . .

  7. You couldn’t write a better script for this……this is gonna be fun to watch

  8. Great, looks like samsung will place apple in check. Sometimes you have to check people when they step over the line apple has so much nerve but in this case they will be backing down to samsung. Htc and Apple has been going at it and htc has sat apple down so let’s see what happens here. Apple sucks eggs and so does iphone users…

  9. Wait…isn’t the iphone 4 made mostly from Samsung tech?

    1. Pretty much. It’s essentially a Samsung phone with an Apple logo. Just that the OS inside it is a bit dated…

      1. that cracked me up. . .

        made me think of the rumor I seen today of the iPhone 5. Looked a whole lot like the Galaxy S II. Looked like a 4″ to 4.3″ screen, home button now slightly rectangular, plastic above & below screen smaller, but it had a back like the iPad 2. Other than the back it actually looked better lol

        Maybe that’s why Apple’s so pissed off. . . the iPhone 5 probably looks just like the Galaxy S II.

  10. They’ll each have their day in court. And for these retarded commentors to say only Apple sues others and suing based on patents is stupid/evil; Samsung has sued Sharp, Sandisk, Rambus, and they have a lot of patents themselves. Samsung sued a satire parody news company for saying a samsung chairman didn’t pay his taxes (whent he samsung charmain actually did not pay his taxes and was convicted in court). Samsung was taken to court over price fixing displays, they plead guilty, and had to pay 32 million in penalties.

  11. Chi Chickity check yo self before you break yourself! I hope Samsung wins! In future news (Engadget: iPhone 5 delayed launch due to suppy “shortages”)

  12. It’s not about patents at all. It’s marketing. The patents are a side-show. Like one dog sniffing another dog’s butt, Apple knew it would get reciprocal treatment on the lawsuit front. Not a surprise. Not interesting.

    To see how this is a marketing exercise for Apple, just look at the corporate PR from Apple announcing its suit and the corporate PR from Sammy. Apple claims to be innovative and doesn’t want Sammy copying them. Sammy has “intellectual property”. Apple has already achieved its goal of making sure the world knows that Apple innovates and everyone else copies. Expect Apple to rinse and repeat in 8-12 months. Don’t expect the lawsuits to result in anything more than rounding error.

    1. “Expect Apple to rinse and repeat in 8-12 months.”

      Best line I’ve read in all the Apple Vs Samsung comments!!!

  13. I think the CEOs of these companies should just whip out their penises and decide who wins that way

  14. U morons. You talk as though the mobile division and semiconductor division is the same! Sheeesh Learn a thing or two about business sense!! It will be business as usual in their relationship with Apple as component supplier. Apple isn’t getting anything for free. Apple has already secured LCD deals with Toshiba and another supplier whose name I dont recollect. They had cold hard cash. If samsung cuts them out, it’ll be jus a blip in their production flow. They will go to someone else. Samsung needs Apple as much as apple needs them. This suing countersuing will go on unabated, but that keeps going on and they will settle out of court simple. Its not easy to get anything out of it with appeals and counterappeals. Sheeesh can’t believe the writer of this blog can write such utter crap.

  15. I think Apple has already figured out the other suppliers they will be going with in lieu of Samsung. They had to do that first before the suing began. Apple will no longer need Samsung anymore. They already have other suppliers and manufacturers to take Samsung’s place. I hope Apple completely loses this battle as they are the ones that steal designs and ideas from other companies, Apple just markets it so massively that the general public think Apple did it first. Apple doesn’t do anything first.

    1. I agree with him. I always say crApple copy Samsung. They did it with the Touch, they did it with the iPhone, they did it with the iPad. Samsung should be suing crApple for copying the designs. Soon only Samsunng, HTC and ZTE will be left just like TV industry. American companys cannot innovate fast enough for them. Go Android…the orginal!

  16. Samsung needs Apple as much as Apple needs them. You’re foolish and have no business sense to assume that just because Apple has a problem with Samsung’s mobile phone division, that samsung’ semiconductor divison will cut off? Apple isnt getting anything for free. There are contractual obligations and I’m pretty sure Apple has ensured Samsung cannot cut them off as they wish for no valid reason. Its not a schoolyard fight between teenages! Samsung knows too well how important a customer Apple is to let them go just becaue they fired a few patents their way. Its common in the tech business to sue. Geez! The suing and countersuing will go on, but that does nothing other than keep their respective lawyers happy. They will settle out of court, if and when they do.

  17. Haha, whoever is deleting my comment? The truth hurts I know. Keep living in your own RDF fandroids like u always did and still do

    1. OK. . . I’ll clarify it for you since you are paranoid.

      Sometimes when you make a comment via Disqus and you go back to that same page, say refresh, it doesn’t load your comment(s). I know it’s odd, but I’ve had it happen a lot also–clear cache or just wait. I’ve seen your comments all day ;)

      No one cares enough to delete them. This isn’t an apple fan site ;)

  18. Shouldn’t Steve Jobs take some of his own advice here?

    Meaning, Steve buddy was all pissed off at Google stating, they entered our business we didn’t enter theirs blah. . . blah. . . blah. . .

    Well, Steve. . . you entered Samsung’s business. So, why don’t you STFU?

  19. both of these companies are major corporations. they both will sue another company for a quick buck. looking at the current situation, i would have to say that samsung and apple seemed to have something good going between each other, then apple went ahead and took a cheap shot at samsung. now samsung is firing back. apple acts like they are the godsend of the mobile industry, but they are not. they didn’t create anything new, they just used their namesake to help it become mainstream. the ipod is a fancified mp3 player. the iphone is a fancified ipod, or a fancified phone depending on how you look at it. we had mp3 players before the ipod, and the iphone isn’t the first phone to feature an mp3 player. they have taken cues from several other companies, they are not as innocent as they make themselves to be. they sue others for doing something that they themselves do. their ignorance is about to slap themselves in the face. it would be hilarious if samsung stopped supplying apple with parts, and apple ended up halting production of the iphone4 and had to delay the iphone5.

    1. I hope no Apple, iPhone fanboy claims the iPhone was the first phone to have an mp3 player. My E815…a regular cellphone…. had it in 2005.

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