The saga continues, but at least this time we get to giggle at the tech giants’ use of sarcasm.
Entangled in a patent battle with Apple, Samsung has switched up its approach to the copycat case, dropping two patents and adding another four. The South Korea-based company is also snarkily redefining the meaning of the word “copying,” opting for the less leechy term, “competing.” According to the freshly filed paperwork, “the Samsung Defendants admit that they have not ceased competing with Apple, notwithstanding Apple’s efforts to avoid such competition.”
The four new patents Apple is supposedly infringing upon include “portable telephone and method of displaying data thereof;” a “portable composite communication terminal for transmitting/receiving and images, and operation method and communication system thereof;” a “method of controlling digital image processing apparatus for efficient reproduction of digital image processing apparatus using the method;” and a “multi-tasking apparatus and method in portable terminal.” What a mouthful.
In the same long-winded breath, Samsung is trying hard, perhaps conspicuously hard, to prove itself as an original innovator, giving a brief history of its past achievements. “From 2005 to 2010 alone, Samsung invested more than $35 billion in research and development,” the freshly filed paperwork explains. “More than a quarter of all Samsung employees – over 50,100 engineers overall, including about 8,700 telecommunications – daily engage in cutting-edge research and development projects.” In an attempt to prove the validity of that work, Samsung added that “during the last half of 2010, Samsung sold more Android-based devices worldwide than any other company.”
For those of you who aren’t caught up on the action, this all started back in April when Apple filed a suit alleging patent infringement against Samsung. It heated up rather quickly from there, with both companies trying to get their hands on the others products. Apple got its way, but Samsung’s request to see the iPad 3 and iPhone 5 was easily dismissed. The companies then resorted to tongue-lashings, mostly on the part of Apple who accused Samsung of “slavishly copying” its products, what the Cupertino-based company calls an “attempt to harrass.”
Then, on the 20th of June, we thought we saw the sun peak out from behind the clouds when Apple’s lawyer told Judge Lucy Koh that high-level executives from both companies were in talks to potentially settle. Sadly, the following week only brought on more turmoil. Apple filed a retaliation suit in Samsung’s home of South Korea, reports circulated that Apple would be ditching Samsung as a chip maker, and just Wednesday, Samsung tried to ban imports of the iPad, iPod and iPhone.
[via SlashGear]
