Samsung Files Patent Suit Against Apple's iPhone 5: The Patent Wars Are Far From Over

If you hate to read these stories, imagine how much we hate to write them: yet another volley has been tossed in the patent battle between Samsung and Apple. This time it's the Korean manufacturer taking its intellectual property guns out against Apple, claiming that the shiny new iPhone 5 violates eight of its software patents. Surprisingly, Samsung has yet to mention any patents having to do with LTE technology, the "newest" feature in the iPhone, and the feature that Samsung threatened to target upon its release.

Samsung claims six utility patents and two standard essential patents. The later (USPTO filings 7,551,596 and 7,756,087) have to do with data transfers on mobile networks, while the former (USPTO 7,672,470, 7,577,757, 7,232,058, 6,292,179, 6,226,449, and 5,579,239) are more varied, ranging from audio streaming and control to keyboard and voice inputs. In case that isn't enough to make your head spin, this is just an addendum to a lawsuit already in motion. Samsung is adding the iPhone 5 to its claims covering other Apple products, including earlier iPhones, laptops and desktops, and Apple TV. All eight patents were already in the suit, currently scheduled to go before Judge Paul S. Grewal in the Northern District of California on November 6th.

All this comes just hours after the sales injunction on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, a result of Apple's billion-dollar patent victory over Samsung last month, was lifted by Judge Lucy Koh. She ruled that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 didn't infringe upon Apple's design patents, a condition upon which the original injunction was based, though the software patent violation stands. New sales bans on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and other Samsung hardware may go into effect after the final judgment, scheduled for December.

Samsung's Revised Patent Complaint Against Apple To Include iPhone 5 - Scribd

[Via Cnet]