Apple's legal battle with rival Samsung takes a new twist

Published on Thursday 23 June 2011 22:34

ELECTRONIC gadget maker Apple yesterday opened up a new front in its on-going patent battle with rival Samsung by suing the South Korean company in its home patch.

Apple, led by chief executive Steve Jobs, filed a lawsuit in the United States in April, claiming that Samsung's Galaxy range of devices "slavishly" copied its own iPhone mobile phones and iPad tablet computers.

Samsung retaliated by suing Apple in Germany, Japan and South Korea.

A spokesman for Apple's Korean unit declined to comment on the lawsuit and reiterated the company's previous stance.

He said: "It is no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging."

In the previous filing against Apple, Samsung said it was seeking compensation for patent infringements.

Global technology companies are locked in a web of litigation as they try to defend their shares of the booming tablet and smartphone market.

Last week, a lawyer for Apple said in a US court that executives "at the highest levels" of both companies are in talks about patent litigation.

Apple, which was Samsung's second-biggest client after Japan's Sony last year, became the South Korean firm's biggest customer during the first quarter of this year, mainly by purchasing components.

Samsung is one of the fastest-growing smartphone makers on the back of a boom in demand for the Android operating system and has emerged as Apple's strongest competitor in the tablet market.

News of the latest twist comes as the US International Trade Commission, which oversees industrial disputes, said it will take an extra week to review camera maker Kodak's patent claim against Apple and Canadian firm Research in Motion, which makes the Blackberry.