The ongoing spat between Apple and Samsung shows no signs of letting up, with Apple having just filed a motion for preliminary injunction against the Korean LCD specialist’s Galaxy Nexus in the US.
Interestingly enough, though, the four counts of infringement cited in the complaint point to software issues – something which has nothing to do with Samsung, rather Google’s Android Mobile OS. It is thought the suit is more of an indirect swoop at the Big G, dragging Samsung along for another date in the Patent Infringement World Tour as a supporting act.
The Galaxy Nexus, which took quite a while to finally retail Stateside, runs a stock version of Android 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich. Samsung doesn’t add anything else to the table except the device alone, meaning any software element – infringing or otherwise – rests solely on the shoulders of Google.
Filed Thursday, the motion points to four patents – all of which could seriously hinder Google’s business if they were found to breach the fruit company’s intellectual property. The first is a ‘data tapping’ patent, which makes up part of Siri’s search functionality. Next comes the iconic slide-to-unlock, something the guys at Cupertino have had a bee in their bonnets about for a few weeks now; as well as a patent regarding the mannerisms of automatically completed words when text is tapped into the device.
The ‘data tapping’ patent has already forged success against Android devices in the past, with Apple having already won a request to block the import of HTC devices – a ban which will come into effect in two months’ time. Apple goes on to describe Samsung as: "a compulsive and unrepentant infringer on Apple’s patents" – strong, yet unsurprising words which Steve Jobs would most certainly have advocated.
Apple has been on the offensive on the home front recently, with Motorola – a yet to be Google-owned company – also in the firing line. There’s an ongoing rift between the two over in Germany, and just yesterday, Apple filed a complaint in the US against Motorola for its abuse of patent licensing on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.
Stay tuned, folks, this could get very, very messy interesting, and we’ll be keeping more than a close eye on proceedings.
(via TNW)
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