“As The Wall Street Journal reports, Samsung announced this morning that it seeks to ban the new iPhone — the iPhone 4S — in various markets. Today, Samsung will make simultaneous filings of petitions for preliminary injunctions in Paris, France as well as Milan, Italy, to be followed by similar actions in other countries yet to be determined,” Florian Mueller reports for FOSS Patents.

“Today’s announcement by Samsung states that the petitions to be filed today in France and Italy ‘will each cite two patent infringements related to wireless telecommunications technology, specifically Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) standards for 3G mobile handsets,’” Mueller reports. “Very importantly, Samsung’s announcement declares those patents to be ‘essential,’ which is an incredibly important term in connection with industry standards.”

Mueller explains, “If those patents are indeed essential to the standard, then Samsung as a participant in the relevant standard-setting process has an obligation to grant licenses to everyone, including Apple, on FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) terms. Apple already accuses Samsung in other jurisdictions, including but not limited to the U.S., of failing to honor those obligations.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: The answer to the headline is: Because they have nothing else.