Though Apple managed total victory in its U.S. patent lawsuit against Samsung, the most valuable company in history hasn’t fared quite so well in places such as Korea and Japan. Still, Apple is taking its win and running with it, requesting that many Samsung smartphones, including varieties of the Galaxy S II, be banned from sale in the U.S. A hearing is scheduled for December to determine if Apple will get its wish.
It turns out Samsung may have a counterattack planned, though. An article in the Korea Times states that Samsung has confirmed its intention to “immediately sue Apple” if it decides to release an LTE device, which the upcoming iPhone 5 is expected to be. The Times points to Thomson-Reuters data that states Samsung owns around 12.2% of LTE patents. If Samsung can manage to find one of their LTE patents that the iPhone 5 infringes upon, it’s a near-certainty the company will ask for an injunction against Apple selling the smartphone in the U.S.
If Samsung could actually convince a judge to issue a well-timed injunction, it would be quite a reposte. With a manufacturing delay for the smartphone’s LCD panels already guaranteeing a supply crunch on the iPhone 5’s launch day, an injunction would drop a bomb on the tech world’s biggest product launch of the year. It might also, however, turn out to be a good thing, as the attention and outrage such an event would cause could be enough to finally get some movement toward U.S. patent system reform.
(via BGR)
