Apple looks to add Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1, Google's Jelly Bean OS to lawsuit

By Mikey Campbell

In a motion for leave to supplement its initial infringement allegations against Samsung, Apple argues that the Korean company's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet along with the Android 4.1 operating system, dubbed Jelly Bean, should be included in an ongoing patent infringement case.


Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1. | Source: Samsung

U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal on Tuesday heard Apple's arguments at the District Court for the Northern District of California, reports Bloomberg, with the Cupertino company alleging that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 infringes on certain patents and should therefore be added to the ongoing lawsuit.

The assertions against Samsung's tablet are nothing new, though the addition of Jelly Bean could represent a direct attack on Google's mobile operating system, a first for Apple that could open the door to a legitimate court battle between the world's two most popular mobile operating systems.

Previously, the Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Note were both added to the pending case. In early October, Samsung also supplemented its position and added the iPhone 5 to its series of complaints, which are based on Apple's alleged violation of UMTS wireless patents used in its iOS devices.

While the patent suit is under the purview of presiding Judge Lucy Koh, the same jurist who oversaw the landmark Apple v. Samsung trial that ended with a $1.05 billion Apple win, it is a separate case that has yet to go to trial. However, because the jurors found the Galaxy Tab to not be infringement of Apple's design patents in the August ruling, Judge Koh dissolved a preliminary injunction against the device in October. A permanent sales ban may still be in the cards for the Tab 10.1, as the issue may arise in the multitude of post-trial motions from both parties set to be heard in December.

The suit to which Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Google's Jelly Bean were added is scheduled to go to trial in 2014.