Apple seeks to block sales of Samsung’s bestselling smartphone
After winning a landmark $1-billion patent infringement case against Samsung Electronics Co., Apple Inc. is taking aim at its rival’s bestselling Galaxy S III phone.
Apple has amended a complaint, filed in February, to include four more products to a list of Samsung gadgets that the Cupertino, Calif., tech giant says infringes on its patents. The list now includes the Galaxy Note smartphone as well as the Galaxy S III. In the complaint, Apple accuses Samsung of filling “the market with copycat products.”
The allegations echo accusations made in a closely watched court case that ended last month when a San Jose jury awarded Apple $1.05 billion after finding Samsung had infringed on six patents by copying the look and feel of its mobile devices.
Based on that court victory, Apple is trying to ban the sale of eight other Samsung smartphones such as the Droid Charge and the Galaxy Prevail. U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh, who presided over the four-week trial, will hold an injunction hearing Sept. 20 to determine which, if any, of Samsung’s smartphones should be banned from U.S. store shelves.
Samsung struck back Saturday and accused Apple of “resorting to litigation” to crush competition “in an effort to limit consumer choice.”
“We will continue to take the necessary legal measures to ensure the availability of our innovative products in the United States,” Samsung said in a statement to the Associated Press.
Apple’s trial victory over Samsung is part of a pitched war with Google Inc. over Google’s Android operating system, which Samsung and other tech companies use on tablet computers and smartphones, which compete with Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Android-powered smartphones already outsell iPhones by about 3 to 1. For example, less than three months after the Galaxy S III launched, it has already topped 10 million in global sales.
