Know why Samsung is waiting for iPhone 5 launch

Samsung is waiting to see
how many of its patents
does the iPhone 5 violate,
as it readies itself for
another legal battle with
Apple over patent
infringement.

NEW DELHI: It is not just
the Apple fanboys who are
eagerly awaiting the
iPhone 5 to launch. Apple's
arch rival Samsung too is
waiting to get its hands on
the iPhone 5. However,
rather than comparing its
capabilities with its flagship
Galaxy S III, the South
Korean manufacturer is
waiting to see how many
of its patents does the new
iPhone violate.
According to Foss Patents,
a blog that covers news
about wireless patents and
mobile devices, Samsung
has filed a case
management statement
with the United States
District Court for the
Northern District of
California against Apple. In
the filing, the company
said that it is certain Apple
iPhone 5 will infringe upon
eight of its patents, just
like the previous iPhones.
The filing, as per Foss
Patents, says, "Samsung
anticipates that it will file,
in the near future, a
motion to amend its
infringement contentions
to add the iPhone 5 as an
accused product. Based on
information currently
available, Samsung expects
that the iPhone 5 will
infringe the asserted
Samsung patents-in-suit in
the same way as the other
accused iPhone models.
Samsung plans to file a
motion to amend its
infringement contentions
to address the iPhone 5 as
soon as it has had a
reasonable opportunity to
analyze the device.
Because Samsung believes
the accused functionality
of the iPhone 5 will be
similar to the accused
functionality of other
accused Apple products,
Samsung does not believe
that amendment of its
infringement contentions
should affect the case
schedule."

On Thursday, Samsung
said in a separate
statement: "Apple
continues to take
aggressive legal measures
that will limit market
competition. Under these
circumstances, we have
little choice but to take the
steps necessary to protect
our innovations and
intellectual property
rights."

Apple Korea reiterated its
position that it was the
victim of copying, not vice
versa. "At Apple, we value
originality and
innovation... We make
these products to delight
our customers, not for our
competitors to flagrantly
copy."

This move is part of a
larger patent war between
Apple and Samsung, where
both litigants stress that
the other violates its
patents. The biggest
development in the battle
was last month, when
Apple won a lawsuit in the
US, its home ground, and
Samsung was ordered to
pay it over $1 billion in
damages. The jury also
found that Apple did not
infringe any of Samsung's
asserted patents.

The iPhone maker then
gave a list of 21 Samsung
smartphones that it wants
banned in the US,
including the current
flagship Galaxy S III, as
well as Galaxy S II, Galaxy
Note and Galaxy Ace.
Samsung has appealed
against the verdict to the
court.

Samsung, the biggest
Android phone maker,
received a second US legal
setback last week when a
judge at the International
Trade Commission said in
a preliminary ruling that
Apple did not violate
patents owned by
Samsung.

Apple's victory was also a
blow to Google, whose
Android software powers
the Samsung products that
were found to infringe
Apple patents.