Samsung thwacks Apple back Down Under: Crikey!

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Saturday, 17 September 2011 00:58

Opinion and Analysis

After Apple got down and dirty with the legal eagles in Australia and stopping Samsung from releasing its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, Samsung certainly protested, but now they've dropped a tidy little lawsuit against Apple in return against several of its oh so shinily crunchy Jobsian iDevices.

Holy Lawsuits, Batman - Samsung and Apple are at it again, with a BOOM, WHAM, KAPOW and WHACK comin' at ya right out of your 1960s televisual Batstravaganza!

This time the action is taking place on Planet Earth's Southern Hemisphere, and specifically in the country of Australia, with Samsung issuing a media statement in the wee hours of Saturday morning, informing the media and the world of its cross claim filed on September 16, 2011, in the Federal Court of Australia - New South Wales Registry.

Samsung says the cross claim is regarding two things:

'1. Apple Inc.'s infringement of 7 Australian patents owned by Samsung related to wireless communications standards by the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPad 2 products; and

'2. that the patents that Apple Inc. relies on in its claims against Samsung in relation to the GALAXY Tab 10.1 are invalid and should be revoked by the Court.'

Samsung then states that it has a 'proud history of innovation in the mobile industry' and boasts of its "continuous investment" in 'R&D, design and technology to produce our innovative and cutting-edge mobile devices'.

The statement ends with: 'To defend our intellectual property, Samsung filed a cross claim for Apple's violation of its wireless technology patents.'

The specific patents asserted by Samsung are as follows, with the 'accused products' being the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and the iPad 2, with the iPad 1 notably missing from the list.

(a)  Australian Patent No. 765735;
(b)  Australian Patent No. 2005239657;
(c)   Australian Patent No. 722598;
(d)  Australian Patent No. 751376;
(e)  Australian Patent No. 2005213087,
(f)   Australian Patent No. 2005202512; and
(g)  Australian Patent No. 2006241621.

What this means for a firm date for an actual Australian launch of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 and its smaller, newer Galaxy Tab brethren, along with Samsung's stylus-equipped Note device, is yet to be seen, but chances are we won't see much more yet until the legal eagles have finished their judicial round of angry birds so all those angry Android nerds out there and all the rest of us can finally move on to the next level.