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Samsung to fight back against Apple in Australia; Seeking iPhone 5 ban in Korea

Summary: Apple and Samsung's legal scuffles continue in Australia and South Korea, as the two giants continue to punch each other in a long-running, worldwide patent dispute.

Zack Whittaker

By for Between the Lines |

Samsung, in a bid to clamber onto its suffering smartphone sales amid a series of worldwide patent lawsuits, is counter-suing Apple in Australia.

It comes only a month after Samsung delayed the launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the country. The claim was filed with the Federal Court of Australia in New South Wales, stating that Apple infringed seven Australian patents relating to wireless networking in Apple's third- and fourth-generation iPhones and iPad 2 devices.

Apple previously said that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 infringes patents that it holds, with Samsung vehemently disagreeing. The two smartphone and tablet giants, however, struck a deal last month to not only restrict sales of the latest Galaxy Tab tablet in Australia, but would also hand over samples of the device to Apple for a review and approve process.

But now it seems that Samsung's move would contravene its earlier agreement. Not only is Australia in the thick of it regarding this ongoing, worldwide patent disagreement, but South Korean consumers could miss out on the iPhone 5 if Samsung has its way.

Even though the elusive iPhone 5 has yet to be officially announced, though expected in the coming weeks in the run up to the December holiday season, Samsung is preparing to sue Apple in a bid to ban sales of the next-generation iPhone in South Korea.

According to sources speaking to the Korean Times, a major national newspaper in the country, Samsung owns patents which will "almost certainly" be broken.

The ban, if it goes ahead, would be a major blow to Apple in the highly-developed, technologically minded and one of the most Internet connected countries in the world. Though the population is just shy of 50 million, the financial impact would be huge.

Having said that, Apple has suits in place against Samsung in the country after it claimed that Samsung copied the designs of its products and marketed them as its own.

After Apple's court win in Germany, where the Galaxy Tab 7.7 was banned at Berlin's IFA technology show, and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was banned across Europe but later downgraded to 'just' Germany, it could set a precedent worldwide to other countries negotiating between the two parties.

Though legality does not cross borders, as some readers were keen to point out, patent law across the world is vastly similar. On the other hand, though cross-border laws have little legal impact, one country could take the points from one decision as an influencer in another.

Related:

Topics: Apple, Samsung

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39 comments
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  • Did anyone expect Samsung not to fight back?

    Apple attacked Samsung.

    Samsung is defending itself.

    Why would anyone expect any different?

    That being said, Samsung would be wise to quit this fight where Samsung could win all of these battles while still losing the war.

    The war is being fought on iTunes, Apple.com, in Apple stores, in Best Buys, etc. and Samsung has absolutely no hope of winning there. Samsung does not have a competitive product because Samsung cannot license access to iTunes. Samsung cannot purchase components as inexpensively as Apple can. No one can.

    No one will beat Apple in the tablet and smartphone markets where "beating" is measured in terms of profit. The only tablet that came close to "beating" the iPad was the HP TouchPad and only after they lowered the price to $150 less than what it cost them to make.

    This is a sick market.

    We all lose.
    toddybottom
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Samsung to fight back against Apple in Australia; Seeking iPhone 5 ban in Korea

      @toddybottom More Empty Words With Little Backing.
      slickjim
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Samsung to fight back against Apple in Australia; Seeking iPhone 5 ban in Korea

      @toddybottom
      If you liked WM6, Symbian, crappy $2k win 7 tablets then you lose.

      If you like WP7, Android, iOS, $99 touchpads, Win 8. Then you win.
      anono
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Samsung to fight back against Apple in Australia; Seeking iPhone 5 ban in Korea

      @toddybottom <br>Remind me again why consumers lose if Apple profits. Also, what can you get on iTunes that you can't get elsewhere.<br><br>Read my comment above about the true winners and losers of Apple's success (at least from a consumer's prespective)
      anono
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Samsung to fight back against Apple in Australia; Seeking iPhone 5 ban in Korea

      @toddybottom Samsung does not have to beat Apple. If it can win on technology patents, Apple cannot release any of it's products. Period. The question is, if Samsung believes Apple has encroached on its patents, why get them banned only in Korea?
      annuraja01@...
      Reply Vote

      • Because Samsung is Korean

        @annuraja01@... Home field advantage... Samsung has a chance at banning iPhone 5 for "probable" infringements. If they can win there, they have leverage in other jurisdictions.
        Alzie
        Reply Vote

  • beg to differ

    Samsung so far is beating the iPhone. This is more about phones than pads.
    kirovs@...
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Samsung to fight back against Apple in Australia; Seeking iPhone 5 ban in Korea

      @kirovs@...
      Samsung will not win. Just like the Wintel market, the Armdroid market is a highly competitive/commoditised market. Samsung know that it is only a matter of time befire their hardware designs are mimmicked and sold cheaper...why...because Android is Android and at the end of the day cost is what will drive sales as consumers search for better and better deals. So even if Samsung wins...they lose. If Samsung wins then Android wins then Samsungs competitors wins and Samsung loses. They know this....all they can hope to do is delay the inevitable as long as possible...just like IBM/Sony/HP/Compaq tried to do....but in the end they were all forced to exit the PC business. Oddly enough...because Apple are vertically integrated...they have survived. They will have their ups and downs but they will survive. So too will Samsung...they will survive...but one day they will no longer be selling Android tablets.
      global.philosopher
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Samsung to fight back against Apple in Australia; Seeking iPhone 5 ban in Korea

      @kirovs@... Samsung is beating the iPhone? Combining all Samsung's phone sales doesn't equal Apple's iPhone sales do they?
      non-biased
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Samsung to fight back against Apple in Australia; Seeking iPhone 5 ban in Korea

        @non-biased Maybe with smartphone sales, Apple beats Samsung, but when you count in the "feature" phones and standard cell phones Samsung makes, they beat Apple on the total number of phones sold since 2007.
        Champ_Kind
        Reply Vote

  • RE: Samsung to fight back against Apple in Australia; Seeking iPhone 5 ban in Korea

    Look, anyone who has seen the New Samsung in action admits it is the fastest phone on the planet... The CPU / GPU in the phone are faster than the A5 / ETC543MP2 that is in the iPad 2 and likely to be part of the iPhone 5!

    Basically, Apple knows they need to limit this phone anywhere they can because all that power with Super Amoled+ and LTE means they are even further behind.
    slickjim
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Samsung to fight back against Apple in Australia; Seeking iPhone 5 ban in Korea

      @Peter Perry As said by a previous posting:

      More Empty Words With Little Backing.
      THavoc
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Samsung to fight back against Apple in Australia; Seeking iPhone 5 ban in Korea

      @Peter Perry How about battery life...is it good? I don't know but speed at the cost of battery life does not make a good mobile device. Most people want the right balance. I wouldn't want the fastest mobile if the battery only lasts 4 hours. Alternativley I do not want a handset that lasts for a week if it runs dismally. There is a happy equilibrium where the mobile runs all Apps as required and the rest of the device is designed to maximise battery life.
      global.philosopher
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Samsung to fight back against Apple in Australia; Seeking iPhone 5 ban in Korea

      @Peter Perry I have no idea if it is faster or not but does it really matter. It's yet another of a LONG list of talking points that the average consumer doesn't care the least about. They are going to buy what they like best regardless of if it is the fastest phone available or half as fast as the fastest.
      non-biased
      Reply Vote

  • Apple is winning on all counts.

    1) apple has already got some Samsung products banned in Australia and Germany. In the rest of EU Samsung has a few weeks to fix their product or get whacked as well<br><br>2) even if the bans are lifted Samsung has already been tarred as the COPY CAT in the minds of many consumers.<br>All these court cases is giving Apple free publicity. Why would ordinary Joe Consumer buy an inferior (malware ridden no guarantee of OS updates) COPY when the better original costs about the same?<br><br>They are NOT.that's why Lenovo ( the PC and android manufacturer) says Samsung only sold 20k out of 1 million shipped Galaxy Tabs (or 2% !!!). Samsung refuses to refute the claim. <br><br>3) Apple already makes the bulk of the profits $$$ in mobile.<br>For iPhone alone it takes in 66% of the world profits of the top 8 vendors i.e TWICE Samsung, Nokia, Rim, etc put together! For iPad where it's market share is BIGGER it makes MORE!<br>Apple doesn't even need to sue anybody to clean up but being the NEW hyper competitive apple it's not going to leave any stone un turned to give it to the stealers and pirates unlike the Apple CEOs that did not defend Mac OS from Bill Gates.<br><br>Apple has got so much money it can keep at the lawsuits, smaller companies like HTC say they can't afford to keep fighting. (Apple makes in one year in mobile what Google will take 50 years to make off Android) <br><br>4) even if samsung solves the Apple 'problem' it still got the Oracle, the Microsoft and near 50 major other lawsuits agains Android hovering around<br><br>5) Google is buying Moto and from court records its shown Google plays favorites in the past with whom it shares the most android info. Now with Moto in its pay it's going to get worse for Samsung<br><br>6) Samsung has already indicated it's looking harder into it's own OS Bada (if Samsung is winning why is it making statements like that?) and HTC is saying it's planning to buy it's own OS (maybe webOS).<br><br>7) Pissing off one of your biggest customers is not a good idea (espcially tim Cook the Jedi Master of Supply Chain). Apple is already sourcing chips and screens from other people. AND consider this: what would Samsung's OTHER contract manufacturing customers think? "Samsung builds it for you but steals your designs? No thanks".
    Davewrite
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Samsung to fight back against Apple in Australia; Seeking iPhone 5 ban in Korea

      @Davewrite

      1) Korea, of all places, is VERY protective of its own companies. Apple will suffer a STINGING defeat there.

      2) If Apple loses in the Korea, we'll all see Apple as the COPY CAT.

      3) Talk about manipulating data to your benefit. You're so eager to talk about the market share of the iPad; how about the market share of iPhones? Last time I checked, margin is not equal to profits.

      What I see is, Apple being the new Microsoft and needs to be mowed down with the phony patents it brings up to kill competition.

      4) And you think Apple does not have 50 major lawsuits to deal with? You really think Apple is forever the inventor and never the pirate? Ha!

      5) This is a Apple vs Samsung issue. Please refrain from bringing up unrelated stuff

      6) Obviously because of Apple's anti-competitive practices labelling competition as "pirates" and "stealers". Last time I heard Samsung is suing Apple for libel.

      7) As strong as Apple appears, its total revenue still far way behind the total revenue of Samsung's conglomerate. You think Samsung does not know a thing or two about Supply Chain management?
      CyberGuerilla
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Samsung to fight back against Apple in Australia; Seeking iPhone 5 ban in Korea

        @CyberGuerilla

        1) Speaking as a Korean, you've got to be joking, right?

        2) Who is "we"? Certainly not the rest of the world. I seriously doubt Koreans will be much fooled, either.

        3) What data?!? Please post yours. Clue: There is not a single carrier on the ENTIRE PLANET that has carried both the iPhone and Android where the iPhone does not outsell EVERY Android handset combined.

        4) Major lawsuits? Defined how? Able to stop them from shipping a single product? Dream on.

        5) Clue: Google makes Android.

        6) Shows the accuracy of your information. Apple is not being sued for libel.

        7) Regardless of what Samsung knows or doesn't know, they are incapable of putting together a supply chain that allows them to undercut the iPad or the iPhone, and THEY are the manufacturer many times!
        .DeusExMachina.
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Samsung to fight back against Apple in Australia; Seeking iPhone 5 ban in Korea

        @CyberGuerilla <br><br> all your argumenst can be dismissed :<br><br>eg " Korea, of all places, is VERY protective of its own companies. Apple will suffer a STINGING defeat there"<br><br>EXACTLY even if they WIN people will think they won due to Korean bias protecting their own , so no effect on consumers in other parts of the world!!. it'll just hurt koreans sales, no big deal elsewhere. But Apple winning in Germany - the most powerful industrial country in EU - has a big effect on European and North American psychology whose consumers are big money earners for Apple. (I'm not biased against Korea, my wife drives a Korean car)<br><br>5) how is Moto's purchase by Google unrelated. If you've read the court documents you'll see that Google secretly gives more Android help to select partners -- these were from actual Google records released to court during one of the lawsuits. Google's purchase of Moto means Samsung will be disadvantaged : therefore weaker against Apple.<br><br>Theose 50 lawsuits against Android: some of them are major, as far as I can tell there are no major lawsuits that compromises iOS to that extent. already HTC pays msft $5 or more per android device, oracle might get $15. Dude you don't understand: a WinMo license only costs 8 to 15 ! i.e an android license might cost as much as a WinMo or Wp7 license!! that screws up Free os substantially and makes it equal to bought WP7 licenses (where Msft guarantees legal defense). That's samsung and android being threatened. IOS is nowhere under that kind of threat. <br><br>7) samsung makes components Yet it's tablets aren't substantially cheaper than iPad so what happened to it's magical supply chain? because Samsung builds its own if it CUTS the supply price its cutting its OWN manufacturing profits. When Apple cuts suppliers prices it cuts THEIR profits and increases its own, Also because Apple is so huge a buyer when it shifts it helps Samsung rivals grow for example Apple is financing Foxconn, toshiba etc to build new factories. If Samsung rivals are financed by Apple to grow is it good for Samsung long term?<br><br>as for Samsung total revenues what is the point of counting profits from other divisions to this discussion? so it's ok for their MOBILE to not earn much or lose money and get bailed out by the others? how is that good even for the whole company? <br><br>won't bother to answer the rest as all of your arguments as they all can be ground down like that.
        Davewrite
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Samsung to fight back against Apple in Australia; Seeking iPhone 5 ban in Korea

        @deuxsexmachina??

        1) I am not kidding. I am speaking from my years of experience dealing with mobility software market.

        2) General public. Look, I said "IF APPLE LOSES IN KOREA", this is just logical conclusion if Samsungs' claims are proven in the courts. If Apple can use the courts to bludgeon the competition, it's ONLY FAIR that others return the favor. You mean others just roll over and die?

        3) Have you been living in a cave? This has been common knowledge for over a long time. Or, do you really know how to use Google? Your "clue",? I'd say you're clueless. Read the following hard facts.

        http://www.businessinsider.com/android-iphone-market-share-2011-4

        http://www.bgr.com/2011/05/19/android-grabs-53-of-global-smartphone-market-share-ios-50-of-application-revenues/


        4) Major lawsuits? Wow, you just read this article. Maybe fanboys imagine them don't exist.

        5) Clue: ever notice who manufactures the demo Win8 tablets?

        6) Did you miss the details of the court proceedings in Europe where Samsung revealed Apple manipulated and distorted image and submitted them as "evidence"? If that is not libel, what is?

        7) After all these lawsuits in the news you still haven't figured out that the lawsuits are NOT about the chips Samsung manufactures for Apple? That's nothing but bargaining chips in negotiations. As far as undercutting, well, I have no problem with penetration pricing strategies. As a consumer, all I see is iPads and iPhones are more expensive than their Android-powered counterparts.
        CyberGuerilla
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Samsung to fight back against Apple in Australia; Seeking iPhone 5 ban in Korea

        @deusexmachina?? Oh, come on. Koreans bought the "The U.S is afraid to eat its own beef and is sending its old, diseased cows to us" line a few years back. Sure, Koreans like their iPhones, but if it comes down to a choice of nationalism or fancy tech, nationalism and Samsung will win. Guaranteed.
        daengbo
        Reply Vote
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