Apple has stepped up its legal battle against Korean electronics firm Samsung in the UK by beginning legal action for patent infringement.
Apple filed their complaint in court this week, which now means that the total number of patent lawsuits now sits at 20.
The latest lawsuit treads the same ground as the ones that have come for before in Germany and Japan – but so far know one knows the exact patent it refers too.
Samsung said that the lawsuit was a countersuit filed against them for its original lawsuit it took out against Apple in June of this year.
The Korean firm said: ”Samsung has filed a lawsuit in the Court of Chancery against Apple in June that Apple has violated our patented wireless technology inventions.
“Samsung will continue to actively defend and protect our intellectual property, and to ensure our continued innovation and growth in the mobile communication business.”
Many commentators have suggested Apple’s constant of barrage of lawsuits against Samsung is because they’re worried about the success of the S2.
The whole situation is quite messy as Sammy has a lucrative agreement with Apple as it produces chips for both the iPad and iPhone.
But at the moment the companies are staying fairly civil – but the longer it goes on a resolution looks a less and less likely.
It’s not only Samsung vs Apple; HTC are also at loggerheads with Apple too and are using Google patents (bought from Motorola) to go after Apple for patent infringement too.
Google confirmed on Thursday that it has added another 1,023 more IBM patents to its technology arsenal to fend off legal attacks by rivals such as Apple and Microsoft.
The push by Google to strengthen its patent portfolio comes as the fight for dominance in the booming smartphone market increasingly involves lawsuits claiming infringement of patented technology.
“Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies,” Google chief executive Larry Page said when the Motorola Mobility buy was announced.
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