Samsung claims US patent predates Apple EU patent by 13 days
updated 11:20 am EST, Wed December 21, 2011
Samsung hopes to invalidate Apple tablet patent
Samsung in hoping to appeal the Galaxy Tab ban in Germany has brought forward a US patent that it claims might invalidate Apple's European design rights. The utility patent for a flat-panel display was published 13 days before Apple received its EU rights. Judge Wilhelm Berneke, overseeing the case, didn't rule out Apple still having some case but said that the new details could limit the scope of what claims it could level against Samsung.
"Apple's tablet design may have a rather broad range of protection, because it's widely known, but there are also elements that need to remain free, like the feature that tablets are very thin," Berneke said in a Dusseldorf court.
Apple has objected to the use, noting that Samsung was trying to use an LCD patent and arguing that the Korean company couldn't apply it to a tablet. The judge said Apple might still use fair competition rules in its argument.
Either side is hoping to alter a preliminary ban on the Galaxy Tab range. Samsung wants the bans overturned outright. Apple, meanwhile, wants the ban extended past Germany to include the whole European Union. The strategy would also prevent a loophole and try to ban Samsung's Korean division, not just its German division.
A formal ruling on the appeals is due January 31. [via Bloomberg]
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Just the beginning of a long war
We're just barely starting the patent wars in the mobile space. Apple submitted hundreds of patent applications in 2011 alone. And why shouldn't they? They innovate. They develop those innovations into product features. They want to protect their innovations from copycats. So they patent their ideas.
Oh, and here's a bit of friendly advice. if you're sick and tired of reading about patent-related law suits, you don't need to read electronista.com. Or any other tech blog, for that matter, really. It's up to you.