“A top Samsung executive says the company will take a bolder stance in its patent battle with smartphone and tablet rival Apple, which Samsung claims has been ‘free riding’ on its patented wireless technologies,” Kelly Olsen reports for The Associated Press. “‘We’ll be pursuing our rights for this in a more aggressive way from now on,’ Lee Younghee, head of global marketing for mobile communications, said Friday in an interview.”
“Lee, a senior vice president at Samsung, did not say what form the South Korean company’s stronger stance would take or if there would be more lawsuits,” Olsen reports. “But her remarks suggest a definite change in tone. She described its previous approach as ‘passive.'”
“Lee said that Samsung holds numerous patents covering wireless telecommunications technology. Samsung says such patents cover key functions including allowing a mobile phone user to speak on the phone and receive an e-mail at the same time,” Olsen reports. “‘We believe Apple is free riding’ on such Samsung patents, Lee said.”
“Apple reacted to Lee’s comments by reiterating its claim Samsung has violated its intellectual property,” Olsen reports. “‘It is no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,’ said Seoul-based spokesman Steve Park. ‘This kind of blatant copying is wrong and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We tire of Samsung’s bullshit.
Boycott Samsung. We no longer buy Samsung-branded products and advise our millions of readers worldwide to also avoid purchasing Samsung-branded products until they cease stealing Apple’s patented IP.
Apple’s products came first, then Samsung’s:
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If their patents are as basic as they claim, surely they would be FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) patents which they are required to licence on a reasonable basis to Apple and others.
IANAL but this doesn’t seem like a winning strategy to me
Samsung are determined to lose their best customer.
Apple has been finding alternative sources for components that were previously supplied by Samsung and I can only see this trend accelerating.
I feel that Apple ceasing to buy parts from Samsung is a much more effective strategy than taking them to court. It will also serve as a warning to other suppliers that you don’t mess with Apple like that and in addition, it warns other device manufacturers that Samsung is a supplier who will turn on their customers.
It’s hard to see how Samsung can come out ahead by acting in the way they are doing.
I think the reason Samsung is becoming bolder in the Patent Wars is because they know they have already are losing Apple as a component supplier and have nothing to lose (except credibility). Even if things are resolved it’s doubtful Apple will be coming back to Samsung for anything in the foreseeable future
Hahahahhahahha!
“we tire of samsung’s bullshit!”
Love it! It’s taken a while but finally the profanity has come to the surface..
Have you been under a rock? That is actually typical MDN snark.
I prefer Samdung. 🙂
Does boycott mean I have to give up my $10 Samdung Trac phone????
Happy to report there are no Samsung items in my home, except for those components within others’ products. Nothing I can do about that really. ‘Course, the reason there are no Samsung products in my home is because they just plain look like shit, or look like wannabe shit, and always have.
I have also rid myself of the Samsung stuff I had, Lets promote the idea of a Samsung boycott 🙂
Nadda SamDung crapola here in da house! I was considering a monitor from them but that’s gone now. I guess I’ll wait for a referb Apple Thunderbolt Display!
I’m guessing if you are fully immersed in Apple products and their ilk, you probably don’t have many (if any) samsung products either.
All tech products are a mash of bits and pieces, some of which are patented by other companies but aren’t being licensed by the manufacturer. The entire tech industry relies on being able to do this without it resulting in mutual squabbles. Maybe some readers here haven’t worked out how these patent tantrums will possibly play out. We all end up with less products to choose from, all of the products end up with less features, and progress slows right down. Is that really how you want it to be?
It’s great to see Apple and Samsung helping out the big legal firms though. Should save a few lawyers from having to clear their desks and start looking for new jobs.
Let’s be clear. Apple designed and produced a smart phone unlike any that had ever existed, with an OS that they created entirely on their own.
Samsung then copied everything Apple had created, and even used an OS largely stolen from Apple by Eric Schmidt and produced by Google. If anybody is to blame for the squabbles and resulting consumer woes it is Samsung. I hope they and Google get their heads handed to them.
Apple put existing research about gesture interfaces into a phone and made it workable, and they are to be applauded for it. However, the device itself is far more than just an interface. If the hardware infringes on all sorts of patents by other companies, as it will be doing, and those companies decide they want to play this legal game we could end up with iPhones being removed from sale.
Great result for everyone that, don’t you think? This is a ridiculous rabbit hole we’re heading down, and no amount of “Ra Ra Ra. Go Apple!!” changes that.
I agree. If Samsung actually has these patents that Apple is violating, no matter how trivial, they would be stupid not to pursue action at this point given how strongly Apple is going after them. It’s called business. Apple is not the only company that owns IP, so what did everyone expect?!
Yeah. I just don’t see the similarity. I mean, clearly both devices display letters in the arrangement of a word on the front that reads “SAMSUNG” and the Samsung tablet’s camera is along the long edge of the device, where iPad had NONE at first. Even when the iPad 2 added a camera, it was on the short edge.
Also the Samsung home button is RECTANGULAR not round. Even a 2-year-old can see that they’re completely different. Plus Samsung added a bent arrow and, what is that?, a receipt being printed logo on either side of the button. And the dots indicating which home screen you’re on are on the top NOT the bottom as with iOS (dots are a common way of showing various pages, I use them in all of my memos).
So, the differences are stark and Apple doesn’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to the Galaxy hardware. (And NO it has NO connection to the image of a Galaxy that Mac OS X displays prominently, so DON’T even go there!)
Either DMac is the new Zunetang or he is just a DBag…
I would get new glasses if I were you. I have seen people using these Samsung phones, (although, to be fair, not very many), and I really had to look hard before I realised they weren’t iPhone 3Gs devises. Anyone who says there is no resemblance is functionally blind, or else has a form of design myopia.
Or is a total dimwit.
Sheesh! He’s JOKING! It’s called sarcasm.
The SIMILARITIES are stark. A 2-year-old can see they’re completely the same.
Samsung is preparing some bombast to marinate the crow they’ll be eating.
I am boycotting not just Samsung, but Korean products in general. I have recently bought Toyota Yaris instead of Hyundai whatever, Mitsubishi 46″ HDTV instead of Samsung whatever, and several Hitachi 2tb hard drives instead of Samsung whatever. I love them all. I will neither support nor condone Samsung blatant thievery with my money.
Another reason to boycott Samsung is their anti-consumer, third rate support. They are horrible.
My Samsung flip phone didn’t come with a USB cable for transferring photos off the camera, so I bought one. It didn’t work, so I called their customer “service” and they said despite the existence and sale of a “data cable,” you could only transfer photos over the air. So I decided to try Bluetooth, which is supposedly supported. Trying to connect the phone to my Mac CRASHED THE PHONE! Again, so help from Samsung.
Several years ago, as Samsung was entering the printer business, they had a 2-for-1 sale, so I bought six printers from them. All six had failed within three years, and five had issues within months of the warranty expiring, with four failing completely between 13 and 18 months of purchase. When I called to inquire about service, they said I had to pay because they were out of warranty. I said they were defective, as evidenced by so many of them failing with the same symptoms at the same time, and none of them had even reached their duty cycle. They said … you guessed it ,,, they were out of warranty. I could almost hear them snickering and calling me a sucker in the background.
So last year when I needed a new washer and dryer and the salesman tried to tell me about Samsung quality, I just laughed at him and bought Kenmore. And guess what I WON’T be buying when I replace my tube TV with a flat panel?
The thing Samsung does not understand Apple is willing to pay fair market licensing for patents. It on the other hand does not license it’s own patents, it just does not want you to use them.
As I said before Apple will stop using Samsung as a component supplier as soon as it makes sense, this is already starting to happen.
Freeriding is an economics term. Anyhow, if Samsung has any IP in wireless comms that Apple is using, it’s most likely already been licensed by the mfrs of the specific components, or they are part of wireless standards. If they are part of standards, then they MUST be licensed without prejudice at Fair and Reasonable terms, FRAND. If Samsung has some IP being violated, why have they waited so long to sue Apple? It sounds like a load of hot air.
Agreed. Keeps the lawyers busy, I guess.
My, Samsung sure does like to talk a lot of sh*t, don’t they?
Here’s a good rule of thumb — the more trash talk a competitor does, the less confident they are about the fight. You don’t hear any “Samsung is going DOWN” talk coming out of Apple. They just make their moves and win all the critical battles.
Samsung is worried.
——RM
No more Samdung for me also!
A good old Fashioned Boycott!! I’ll be waiting til Apple makes a TV display before I replace mine.
I decided long ago that no Samsung products would ever enter my home and that’s the way it’s going to stay…=*^)
I am also encouraging all my friends to boycott Samsung.
The patents are Frand patents and Samsung cannot use them in a countersuit and expect to win. They must lease them at a reasonable rate when asked. Instead they kept them secret until they needed them.
This is Nokia’s countersuit all over again. Pure bullshit.