Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, the two tech biggies in the world, have been engaged into some serious rivalry which began way back in 2007 when Apple sued Samsung regarding the design of smartphones and tablet computers. The American multinational technology company has been litigating against the South Korean multinational conglomerate over several patent infringement suits. Till now, both the companies are tangled in more than 50 lawsuits. Here’s their story.
Apple filed a lawsuit against Samsung on 5th January 2007 of 4 design patents which included the basic shapes of the iPhone.
Another lawsuit was filed in June 2007 which was of a color design patent covering 193 screenshots of various iPhone graphical user interfaces.
On 15th April 2011, Apple sued Samsung alleging a 38 page federal complaint that a lot of Samsung devices like Nexus S, Epic 4G, Galaxy S 4G and Samsung Galaxy Tab infringed on Apple’s intellectual property which included the patents, trademarks, user interface and style.
The evidence submitted by Apple included side-by-side comparisons of the handset models iPhone 3GS and Galaxy S i9000 to pinpoint all the similarities in the packaging and icons for the apps.
On 22nd April 2011, Samsung counter-sued Apple by filling federal complaints in courts in Seoul, Tokyo, Mannheim and Germany and alleged that Apple is infringing Samsung’s patent for mobile-communication technology.
And so it continues, while the world continues to enjoy the products from both companies.
Author’s Name – Paurush Chaudhary
