Samsung Countersues Apple for 10 Patents Infringed Upon
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]