Apple Hopes to Add Samsung’s Galaxy S4 to Patent Litigation Pig Pile
Add another Samsung device to the ever-lengthening list of smartphones that Apple alleges infringe its intellectual property.
This week, Apple — ignoring a federal judge’s request that it reduce the number of infringements in its second patent suit against Samsung — requested permission to add the Korean company’s latest marquee phone, the Galaxy S4, to a list of 22 devices it believes infringes on its patents. But, so as not to raise the court’s ire, it proposed a swap. If the court approves its request, “Apple will eliminate (without prejudice) one of the Accused Products named herein, so that it will continue to accuse only 22 products of infringement at this stage of the litigation.”
In other words, Apple is proposing a sort of “one in, one out” accused-product policy as a means of dragging Samsung’s newest flagship smartphone into the suit.
Not a bad strategy, given the commercial significance of the device, though it remains to be seen if the court will agree to it after encouraging both companies to limit and simplify their lists of accused products.
Samsung, too, has submitted a list of 22 products — one that essentially spans Apple’s entire portfolio. So there’s a lot at stake here when the case finally goes to trial in March of 2014.
Below, both companies’ lists of accused products:
Apple
- Admire
- Captivate Glide
- Conquer 4G
- Dart
- Exhibit 2 4G
- Galaxy Nexus
- Galaxy Note
- Galaxy Note 10.1
- Galaxy Note II
- Galaxy Player 4.0
- GalaxyPlayer 5.0
- Galaxy Rugby Pro
- Galaxy SII
- Galaxy SII Epic 4G Touch
- Galaxy SII Skyrocket
- Galaxy S III
- Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus
- Galaxy Tab 8.9
- Galaxy Tab 2 10.1
- Illusion
- Stratosphere
- Transform Ultra
Samsung
- iPhone 3G
- iPhone 3GS
- iPhone 4
- iPhone 4S
- iPhone 5
- iPad
- iPad 2
- iPad 3
- iPad 4
- iPad mini
- iPod touch (fifth generation)
- iPod touch (fourth generation)
- iPod touch (third generation)
- MacBook Air
- MacBook Pro
- iMac
- Mac mini
- Mac Pro
- iTunes
- iCloud
- Apple TV (third generation)
- Apple TV (first generation)