Legal fight between frenemies escalates
Samsung Electronics is asking the United States to prohibit Apple from importing key products including the latest iPhone and iPad devices amid an escalating patent dispute.
Samsung filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission over what it claims are Apple’s violation of five patents held by Samsung, the South Korean company said Thursday. The complaint was filed Wednesday.
“The complaint requests relief in the form of a permanent exclusion order prohibiting entry to the United States of all Apple products in violation of these patents,” Samsung said in a statement, adding that the items include the iPhone 4, iPad 2 and iPod Touch.
Though Apple is a U.S. company, many of its products are assembled in China and exported to the United States.
Apple spokesman Steve Park in Seoul declined comment on the complaint.
The action is the latest move in a fight that began in April when Cupertino, California-based Apple sued Samsung Electronics in a California court claiming Samsung’s Galaxy line of smartphones and tablet computers copy its iPad and iPhone.
Samsung responded by filing lawsuits in South Korea, the U.S. and elsewhere alleging patent violations by Apple. Apple then came back last week and filed a lawsuit against Samsung in Seoul Central District Court, taking the battle to the South Korean company’s home turf.
The dispute highlights the growing role of so-called smart devices such as phones and tablet computers and the intense competition for customers as such products have soared in popularity spurred by Apple’s 2007 launch of the iPhone. Samsung, the world’s second-largest manufacturer of mobile phones, got a slower start in smartphones but has been catching up with its Galaxy brand.
Samsung and Apple are not only competitors. Apple, driven by the success of the iPhone and iPad, become the world’s largest buyer of chips for computers and phones last year, according to research firm IHS iSuppli.
Samsung, the world’s biggest manufacturer of memory chips, declined to say exactly how much it sells to Apple.
“Apple is our competitor, but at the same time it is one of our biggest customers,” Samsung spokesman Nam Ki-yung said. “And we can’t discuss our customers.”
