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Apple targets four Samsung products with preliminary injunction

The ongoing saga between Apple and Samsung ratcheted up on Friday when the iPhone maker asked the U.S District Court in San Jose, Calif. to issue a preliminary injunction, potentially bringing a swift resolution to the legal dispute.

The filing, discovered by Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents, specifically accuses Samsung of violating three Apple design patents and one utility patent. Mueller described the motion as a risky "hole-in-one" attempt from Apple that could accelerate the case.

If granted, the injunction would require Samsung to remove the following four products from the U.S. market within the next few months:

  • Infuse 4G
  • Galaxy S 4G
  • Droid Charge
  • Galaxy Tab 10.1

"The message that Samsung conveys to consumerswith its imitative smartphone design is simple: “It’s just like an iPhone.” Samsung’s Galaxy 10.1 tablet sends a similar message: “It’s just like an iPad.” With the benefit of those messages, Samsung is seeking to take market share by trading off of the popularity of Apple’s products," Apple wrote in the request.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company added that it was “limiting” the injunction to new Samsung products recently released in the U.S. and had left out the as-yet-to-be-released ‘Galaxy S 2 Phone’ and the ‘Galaxy Tab 8.9 tablet’. However, Apple said that it “reserves the right to seek preliminary injunction against those two products as their release becomes imminent.”

Apple maintained that it's other claims are "equally strong," but could potentially raise additional issues that would hold up the motion. "It's hard to imagine a more compelling case for issuing a preliminary injunction," the filing read.

Alongside the motion, Apple has filed a concurrent motion for an expedited trial on all of its claims. The company has asked for a court hearing for the preliminary injunction on August 5 and an expedited jury trial for the whole case in February 2012.

It appears that Samsung won’t back down from Apple’s latest filing. "We're going to actively protect and defend our intellectual property and our ability to provide consumers with innovative technology," company spokesman Kim Titus said.

The Korean electronics giant fired back at Apple this week with a request for an import ban of Apple's devices, including the iPhone and iPad. The company also asserted in a filing on Friday that it is competing with, not copying, Apple, accusing the iPhone maker of attempting to "avoid such competition."

Apple began its legal battle with Samsung in April when it sued the company, accusing the company of copying the iPhone and the iPad.Samsung quickly retaliated by launching its own lawsuit both in the U.S. and abroad, arguing that Apple had violated several of its patents, including “technology for tethering a mobile phone to a PC to enable the PC to utilize the phone's wireless data connection.”

Since then the two companies have asked to see their competitors unreleased products. Apple asked for and was allowed access to the already announced Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9, Galaxy S II, Droid Charge, and Infuse 4G. Samsung attempted the same maneuver, but was denied access to Apple's unannounced fifth-generation iPhone and third-generation iPad.

Recent reports suggest that the companies' legal battle could significantly affect their business relationship. While Apple is expected to be the Korean company's largest customer this year with orders for $7.8 billion worth of components, rumors claim that Apple is looking to cut "some, if not all, Samsung-made components" from its supply chain. In particular, Apple is rumored to be moving production of the next-generation A6 chip away from Samsung to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in 2012.



66 Comments

loptimist 15 Years · 113 comments

uh oh...

but galaxy tab 10.1?

really? meh.

cloudgazer 14 Years · 2161 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by Loptimist

uh oh...

but galaxy tab 10.1?

really? meh.

You think the 10.1 looks distinctly different from the iPad?

loptimist 15 Years · 113 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by cloudgazer

You think the 10.1 looks distinctly different from the iPad?

you think Mc Donald's burger looks distinctly different from Burger King's burger?

mjtomlin 21 Years · 2698 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by Loptimist

you think Mc Donald's burger looks distinctly different from Burger King's burger?

What do burgers have to do with this? (and I didn't realize Burger King patented the look of their burger! Who would've thought!?)

mimsyswallows 16 Years · 16 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by Loptimist

you think Mc Donald's burger looks distinctly different from Burger King's burger?

You think that makes sense? I can't even start to explain this to you if you really think that is a rational argument.