We can’t pretend to be surprised by this, but Samsung has already begun a legal process to try to ban sales of the newly announced iPhone 4S.
This is of course just the latest chapter in the epic legal saga between Samsung and Apple. The two have been embroiled in back-and-forth patent disputes for what seems like forever, but it’s recently hit a fever pitch after Apple was successfully able to ban Samsung Galaxy Tab sales in Australia and Germany.
Apple claimed the Galaxy Tab was nothing but a blatant iPad rip-off and that consumers would even be confused because it was so similar. Many courts around the world have been hesitant to agree but the two that have are among the biggest global economies.
Samsung’s battles have been a bit more esoteric, pointing to its arsenal of mobile patents and claiming Apple is violating them.
In this latest spat, Samsung issued a statement saying, “Apple has continued to flagrantly violate our intellectual property rights and free-ride on our technology. We will steadfastly protect our intellectual property.”
The promise to actively seek a ban on iPhone 4S sales comes less than 24 hours after the iPhone 4S was revealed, meaning Samsung lawyers were obviously working on this process long before anything about the device was made official.
Apple has been under a contractual obligation since 2007 to pay Samsung licensing fees for technology used in the iPhone, but within the last year Samsung said Apple has been truant in paying these fees. The legal turmoil between the two has only continued to intensify.
