Apple Tries To Derail Galaxy S III Launch In The US

Apple has added Galaxy S III to the list of products it wants banned from sale in the United States, a district court of Northern California filing revealed on Tuesday.

The iPhone maker has accused its main competitor Samsung of two instances of patent infringement in the design of the new smartphone and wants to stop its launch on 21 June. The Galaxy S III has been on sale in the UK and 28 other countries since the end of May, reports Bloomberg.

Apple’s court case against Samsung has previously included eight patents used in 17 products, including the very successful Galaxy S II and Galaxy Nexus.

Innovation versus litigation

Apple took Samsung to court over patent infringements in February. In April, the companies announced they were going to try to settle the issue with diplomacy. However, after 16 hours of negotiations on 21 and 22 May, and even with personal input from CEOs Tim Cook and Gee-Sung Choi, an agreement wasn’t reached.

After obtaining a model of Samsung’s latest smartphone in the UK, Apple “determined that this device clearly infringes at least two of the Apple patents at issue” for “the exact same reasons” as the previous Galaxy versions.

“Samsung believes Apple’s request is without merit,” the South Korean firm responded in a statement. “We will vigorously oppose the request and demonstrate to the court that the Galaxy S III is innovative and distinctive.”

There is an opinion that far from harming Samsung, the lawsuits are actually improving its position. “This is worth it. More consumers know about Samsung. The fight with Apple has so far been effective in boosting our brand awareness,” an unnamed source in the company told Korean Times.

“I don’t think Apple will succeed,” James Song, a Seoul-based analyst at Daewoo Securities, told Bloomberg. “Smartphones aren’t uniquely Apple’s products any more. It won’t be easy to find convincing reasons to block sales.”

Samsung has said it will go ahead with the launch of the new phone as planned. The South Korean manufacturer has sold 24 million units of the first Galaxy S model since its debut in June 2010, and 28 million Galaxy S II phones since May 2011.

According to market researcher Strategy Analytics, Samsung recently passed Apple as the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer, with 44.5 million units shipped in the first quarter of 2012, against the 35.1 million iPhones. Research also shows the South Korean firm overtook Nokia as the biggest maker of all types of mobile phones in the same period.

Apple is widely expected to launch a new iPhone later this summer.

Samsung and Apple have filed at least 30 lawsuits against each other on four continents since April 2011.

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