Samsung files new lawsuit against Apple in Korea
Samsung has filed another lawsuit against Apple in South Korea. The new lawsuit claims that Apple is infringing three of its patents with the iPhone 4S and iPad 2.
Samsung had previously indicated it would not be taking legal action against Apple in Korea. When Apple was launching the iPhone 4S last November, Samsung held back from filing against them to avoid negative publicity.
"We concluded that we should engage in legal battles with Apple only in the global market, but not in order to gain more market share in Korea," a Samsung executive explained.
However, this latest legal action is a complete reversal on that decision, just in time for the reveal of Apple's third generation iPad.
Although the company has previously debated about filing a lawsuit over the iPhone 4S, they have now added the iPad 2 as another alleged infringement on its patents.
The new lawsuit, filed in a Seoul court, is in regards to three utility patents. These utility patents pertain to methods of displaying data, user interface and short text messages.
Samsung and Apple have been consistent rivals in the mobile device market. They have been involved in over 30 legal battles across 10 countries so far. The two companies are still embroiled in disputes in the U.S., Australia, Italy, Germany, and France.
In a statement to TechCrunch, Samsung clarified that the patents disputed in this current legal action are entirely separate from the previous case filed in April 2011.
"This lawsuit is separate from the proceedings filed against Apple in Seoul in April 2011 regarding infringement of telecommunications standards-related patents."
The statement went on to say, "Samsung will continue to assert its intellectual property rights and defend its investment in innovation in order to ensure our continued growth in the mobile industry."
As of yet, Apple has not commented on this latest development.
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