Samsung yesterday filed a cross claim against Apple’s Australian subsidiary in the latest move in the patent legal battle embroiling both companies Down Under.
The case, kick-started by Apple’s Australian arm, revolves around a number of patents that Apple alleges Samsung would infringe upon if it were to sell its new Galaxy Tab 10.1.
Initially Samsung told the court that it didn’t plan on selling the infringing model of the Tab 10.1 in Australia, but later agreed to delay the launch of the Australian model and give Apple prior notice before making the device publicly available.
However Samsung is rigorously defending itself, and as confirmed late last month it has now hit back at Apple in court, filing a cross claim about Apple’s own patent infringements.
In a statement overnight, a Samsung spokesperson confirmed the company had yesterday filed the cross claim regarding a total of seven patents owned by the company that it believes Apple infringes with its iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPad products.
All patents that Samsung alledges Apple is infringing relate to the communication and quality of service of data over mobile networks including the “apparatus and method for encoding/decoding transport format combination indicator in CDMA mobile communication systems” (Patent #2000058543), a method for high reliability sending of and receiving data over a mobile network (Patent #2005239657) and “turbo encoding/decoding device and method for processing frame data according to Quality of Service” (Patent #722598).
Others focus on “Apparatus and method for controlling a demultiplexer and a multiplexer used for rate matching in a mobile communication system” (Patent #751376), method of ensuring enhanced quality of service over WCDMA (Patent #2005213087 and Patent #2005202512) and the sending or recieving of packets in predefined lengths (Patent #2006241621).
“Samsung has a proud history of innovation in the mobile industry. It has invested continuously in R&D, design and technology to produce our innovative and cutting-edge mobile devices,” the company said its statement. “To defend our intellectual property, Samsung filed a cross claim for Apple’s violation of its wireless technology patents.”
Apple is yet to publicly comment on the case, which has left Samsung unable to sell its Galaxy Tab tablet in Australia until at least the end of September.
Both parties will return to the Australian Federal Court later this month in an attempt to come to an agreed resolution to end the patent battle.
Australia isn’t the only country to become a patent battleground for the two tech giants – Samsung has faced lawsuits from Apple in a number of other countries, including the United States and more recently the United Kingdom, over the similarities in their Galaxy line-up and Apple’s iOS product range.
Image credit: Samsung