Apple files lawsuit against Samsung in South Korea

Seoul: Apple Inc has filed a patent suit against Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, in South Korea, claiming it has infringed upon several patents. The litigation comes as Samsung filed patent suits in South Korea, Japan and Germany in April over the US company’s iPhone and iPad after Apple claimed Samsung’s Galaxy line “slavishly” copied its products. [caption id=“attachment_30961” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Apple has filed a law suit against Samsung in South Korea. Truth Leem/Reuters “]  [/caption] Global technology companies are locked in a web of litigation as they try to defend their shares of the booming tablet and smartphone market. Last week, a lawyer for Apple said in a US court that executives “at the highest levels” of both companies are in talks about patent litigation. This was after the judge referenced the close business relationship between the two companies to resolve the case through alternative dispute resolution outside the court. Apple, which was Samsung’s second-biggest client after Japan’s Sony Corp last year, became the South Korean firm’s biggest customer in the first quarter, mainly by purchasing semiconductors, according to Samsung’s quarterly report. Samsung has become one of the fastest growing smartphone makers on the back of a boom in Android operating system and has emerged as Apple’s strongest competitor in the tablet market. A spokesman for Apple Korea declined to comment on the patent law suit and reiterated the company’s previous stance. “It is no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,” the spokesman said. Samsung shares closed up 2.5 percent ahead of news of the law suit. Reuters