Samsung sues Apple for patent rights violation
By siliconindia   |   Friday, 22 April 2011, 18:16 IST
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Bangalore:South Korea's 'Samsung Electronics', filed a lawsuit accusing Apple of violating its rights of smartphone and computer patents. The company filed lawsuits in Seoul, Tokyo and Mannheim, Germany. The lawsuits are the latest in a long string of patent disputes among phone makers. The lawsuits come in the scene only days after Apple sued Samsung in a California court. The suit by Apple claims Samsung stole the physical look, hardware design, software packaging and user interface from Apple and used these Apple-inspired elements in its popular line of Galaxy smartphones and tablets. Steve Jobs, Chief Executive Officer of Apple, which relies on Samsung to supply chips for the iPhone and iPad, called out Samsung when unveiling the iPad 2 in March, saying that the company was among the tablet makers angling to make 2011 the "Year of Copycats." Samsung has responded strongly to this suit, threatening to fight this lawsuit and retaliate with its own countersuit accusing Apple of violating wireless patents held by the Korean company. Samsung also has issued a statement saying, "Samsung is responding actively to the legal action taken against them in order to protect their intellectual property and to ensure their continued innovation and growth in the mobile communications business." It also said that the patent suit filed by Samsung involved infringements on up to five Samsung patents, but it did not elaborate as to which patents it was referring to. This move is a backlash for Samsung, as Apple which is its second biggest client is in a war over lucrative wireless and smartphone technology. Apple obtains display panels and semiconductors from Samsung and accounted for 4percent of the Korean's company total revenue in 2010.