There simply is no end to the Apple vs Samsung war — and this time the battlefield is Australia. The Apple vs Samsung trial Down Under began with the South Korean firm claiming that Apple’s iPhone 4, 4S and iPad 2 infringe on three patents Samsung has for 3G standards, reports ZDNet.
ZDNet also reported that Apple admits to using Samsung’s 3G patents but has said in its defense that the way they have implemented it means they are not infringing on Samsung’s patents. Its become a case of our 3G is not that same as their 3G with both sides continuing the counter arguments.
According to PCWorld, Apple also stated that Samsung Electronics is assuming that technology in the iPad and iPhone violates its patents without knowing the actual processes in the devices’ chipsets.
Meanwhile, the California leg of the Samsung and Apple trial will begin on 30 July over disputed patent claims. The Wall Street Journal is already calling it ‘the Patent trial of the century in an article with the same headline.
So what is the fuss all about? According to Apple, Samsung slavishly copied designs of the iPad and the iPhone. A UK judge recently ruled that Samsung Galaxy Tab wasn’t a copy of the iPad as the Galaxy Tab wasn’t cool enough. Apple ordered to publish an ad highlighting the judgement on its British Website, and thus state that Samsung wasn’t a copy cat.
The Apple Logo. AP
However, it also appears that the two have decided to drop some patent claims ahead of the US trial. PCWorld reports, Apple said it would dismiss all claims it had previously made against Samsung’s Acclaim, Nexus S and Sidekick cell phones, while Samsung is dropping all claims against Apple relating to US Patent 6,928,604. This particular patent deals Turbo encoding/decoding device and method for processing frame data for a CDMA communication system.
The Apple-Samsung patent battle is unlikely to end anytime soon in any part of the world. For now, there’s no denying that the only people who’ll benefit from it are the lawyers.
