“Apple sued Samsung yesterday, the latest in a long line of IP lawsuits against Android device manufacturers,” Nilay Patel writes for This is my next. “The case is remarkable for several reasons, not least because Samsung is one of Apple’s critical component suppliers: the Korean giant manufactures everything from DRAM and SSDs for MacBook Pros to the A4 and A5 processors in the iPhone, iPod touch, Apple TV, and iPad.”
“The immediate takeaway is exactly as Florian Mueller tweeted: Apple isn’t afraid to sue anyone when it comes to protecting its IP. You might also surmise that Apple demanded Samsung stop infringing its IP or pay a royalty and Samsung refused; a filed complaint is generally just evidence that more cordial negotiations failed,” Patel writes. “But that’s the easy reaction to the simple fact of Apple suing Samsung.”
Patel writes, “The real dirt is in the complaint itself, which was filed on the 15th and made public today. It’s actually quite interesting, both because of the claims themselves and their structure — this lawsuit is as much about TouchWiz and Samsung’s penchant for lifting design elements as it is about the core of Android.”
Much, much more in the full article – recommended – here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “krquet” for the heads up.]
And now I hear that Samsung is going to sue Apple back. Most likely, they’re going to sue Apple for creating products that are so uniquely awesome, that they couldn’t resist copying them. I can only assume…
Samdung…piling it on deeper and deeper
@Yep.
Judging from press reports here in Korea, Samsung will respond in June with its own suit, based on the over their 1000 U.S. patents (among around 100,000 total U.S. patents they hold) concerning cellular technology. Samsung may be sleazy, but the U.S. press seems to be treating them as a light-weight Asian, back-street pirate outfit instead of a global R&D powerhouse, with 4000 Ph.Ds slaving away for the company. Apple may have a great software case, but could still be vulnerable due to hardware issues.
Another excellent legal analysis can be found here:
http://copymarkblog.com/2011/04/22/apples-samsung-lawsuit-the-trademark-issues/