Samsung has told the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, in a filing, which was submitted last Wednesday, they plan on including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iPhone 5 in the patent lawsuit litigation, which is currently ongoing between the two companies.
Samsung has been threatening legal action against the iPhone 5, since before it was released, and now they seem set on making sure they get back at the Cupertino based iPhone maker, after Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) won the last round of the battle in California. This time, it seems they plan on taking their time, and carefully checking the new iPhone out, before they file any action. Perhaps they hope to avoid a repeat of the last suit, where Apple was awarded $1.05 billion in damages, and reportedly will be seeking to have that number raised to $3 billion.
The decision to include the iPhone 5 in the patent infringement case comes as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has announced its launch of iPhone 5 in 9 countries all over the globe on September 21st. This mass product launch to multiple countries will affect a lawsuit, which is set to go to trial in the first part of 2014.
Keep in mind that Samsung has not yet had the opportunity to actually examine the iPhone 5. This is probably the reason for their caution in not including it in their patent suit until they have carefully dismantled the device. The company stated they had presented their filing “based on the information currently available”. They plan to make amendments to their current filing, once they have had the opportunity to examine iPhone 5.
Florian Mueller, of FOSS Patents, states that Samsung believes that iPhone 5 will infringe on “eight patents that Samsung is already asserting in a California lawsuit against Apple, two of which have been declared standard-essential.
On the flip side of this coin, Apple has also amended their filing to include yet another Samsung device to its hit list. The Galaxy Note 10.1 is now listed on Apple’s list of products, which it believes infringes on patents. Apple has also said that they plan on going after Google, this time over the Jellybean 4.1, a new update of the Android operating system.
Apple and Google have a rivalry which predates even Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung, and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has long defended its products from Apple. Steve Jobs, the late co-founder of Apple, had a burning hatred for Google, and it was no secret how he felt. Google has also presented reasonable defense for its newest version of Android, saying that Samsung and several other smart phone vendors and retailers have made changes to the OS, but the core system is not affected. Now, with Apple openly claiming that Android is in violation, Google may very well have to back their claim of innocence up.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Samsung, Google, these are three top names in technology, and definitely in the mobile sector. So, if they are all doing so well, why go after each other? Why feel threatened by another company who offers a product similar to yours? Isn’t competition in the free market what America is all about? Well, yes and no. If Apple doesn’t call Samsung out on its infringement of the patents, or the other way around in a couple cases, then other companies may come along and make a very cheap imitation of their products, which would definitely hurt their market share over time. The cheaper versions would not be as reliable, and would not be as well made, as say the Galaxy S3, or the iPhone 5. All of this would affect our ability to buy quality devices, as well as each of these company’s abilities to retain their individuality.
It will be interesting to see how these cases affect each company involved over the next few weeks and months.
