“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.
Like pissing in the wind, It will backfire on Samsung.
I hope Apple kicks their ass hard and breaks their back the photocopying bastards. Shamsung is one f**ked up copycat company. Their products have been on my “no buy” list for some time now. At least Microsoft, while they will ape mimic Apple after the fact don’t literally and slavishly copy the look in the device and packaging. Hence the reason Apple has never gone after them What about this does Samsung not understand? I think their cultural perceptions and feeling of entitlement to copy (common in that part of the world) are at the root of the problem.
Actually it is not essential to have one unit to access both type of network . That is already proven by having different types of iPhone for verizon and at&t …
It is a cost cutting measure for Apple .
Worrisome ….
You have no clue what you just posted, and as stated before BOTH are under F.R.A.N.D obligations.
As the other guys says, “you have no idea what you just posted”. It’s not like saying, “Cars are not essential, there is always public transport”.
Right. Boycott Samsung. Etc.
Just for public relations. Most people will simply read “Samsung Suing Apple” and believe it to be valid.
Samsung makes some very nice phones that do things the iPhone can’t do. Blind belief that everything Apple is the best denies the opportunity to experience something better. With the disappointing news yesterday, a whole lot of people will discover the truth of my words when they arrive at the ATT or Version store, discover the souped up 4S is going to cost them three times the advertised price and, at that moment, discover there’s something else to consider – in fact, lots of something else’s to consider.
samssung has a long history of copying the look of competitors device and products… They just made the mistake of stepping on Apple’s toes, a company willing to fight to protect its product from blatant copying, something Samsung is not used to dealing with.
This has nothing to do with blind belief, but rather the way these industries work when they use IP from separate companies to build standards. Once you submit your IP to a standards body for consideration, you are obligated to license that IP at a fair and comparable to everyone who wants to use that standard. Samsung, like Nokia
Test drive a iPhone 4S and wake up.
Ron,
That all sounds great but is very academic, anyone could say that. Fact is there is still nothing to hold a candle to iOS as an ecosystem, the iPhone is just one of the routes in. Im amazed that the words disappointing are being thrown around. Everything in the 4S is new or improved except the case and the screen. The case is nice already still be sexiest handset, the screen is the best there is in my opinion. add to that Apple’s magic with the A5 which (much like the ipad2) on paper looks average, but the a5 on the ipad blew everyones mind with its performance. the list goes on. I have a Galaxy S II as a work phone and i hate it, the hardware specs are amazing, the execution as a device is average to poor, it is very frustrating and clunky and that whole joined up experience just isn’t there.
Good trolling I know, but why am I going to pay three times the advertised price? Is that what Android users do?
Puleeze…. go back to Samsung’s marketing department and be quiet. You obviously are not in touch with reality.
@Phil McCracken – or whatever your made-up name is
Not only does it sound like your generic text vomit was written by a customer support rep in India, but the single concrete thing you wrote about the phone costing “three times the advertised price” makes zero sense.
Now that I think about it, you probably work for Samsung’s counsel. Suing Apple using FRAND patents makes about as much sense as your crayon scrawling.
Name these very nice things it does that an iPhone cannot. NAME THEM.
Explain how people are going to pay three times the advertised price? Apple was very clear that these are the subsidized price. People in this day and age understand what that means. There will be people who are happy to pay the full price just to get the phone early.
Smart people will consider the entire ecosystem, the reliability, the security, the customer satisfaction rating, the quality and availability of apps, these are the somethings to consider.
Sounds to me like you have blind disbelief, you cannot come to grips with the fact that the Android ecosystem is flawed, buggy, insecure, and fragmented as all get out. In short IT SUCKS.
Are you really that fucking stupid? A contract free iPhone 4s is near enough the same price at an Apple store here in the UK. Under contract it’ll also be pretty much the same price. Show me what an Android handset does better, remembering of course that there are lots of variations. Oh, yes, of course, they do malware and viruses SO much better than the iPhone. Other than that, as someone who has no fucking interest in pissing around with the OS just to make it do some obscure function I can find dozens of apps that can do anything I could possibly want my phone to do. Just in mapping software I have three or four apps that allow the use of Ordnance Survey maps. There is only one, to my knowledge on Android.
Got lost somewhere Ron, did we.
Your post sounds reasonable…but I seriously doubt the validity of your conclusions.
So far, Apple is prevailing over Samsung in these disputes, and yet these news stories hype Samsung’s claims as if they are a dire existential threat to Apple. I’m not wringing my hands over it, because Samsung is the one vulnerable as long as they “slavishly copy” the genius of the iPhone and iPad.
If one properly reads the article on Foss Patents (and others on the website about this) the question really should be what legal penalties will there be applied to Samsung for withholding licensing, for what should be open to all FRAND patents, from another company – Apple.
Sue Samsung for that and see how they like it.
Once again Apple does not manufacture the Radios in the iPhone (I beleave they Infineon chipset) they merely integrate a 3rd party product into their phone. Is it not the responsibility of the manufacturer\designer of the radio to licence the patents?
Going to court will force Samsung to reveal the price they charge other companys, for a licence & then pay the same. That way they wont be overcharged, if indeed they do need to licence,