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Samsung May Try To Block Next iPhone In Europe Too

Posted by Unknown on from the can't-we-all-get-along-here dept.

phonewebcam writes with a report in The Register about the ongoing spat between Samsung and Apple. From the article: "Samsung could try to get the iPhone 5 delayed or banned in Europe, a source has told South Korea's Maeil Business Newspaper today. The Korean giant is considering a lawsuit against the next version of the Apple smartphone due in October, in the expectation that iPhone 5 will make use of some basic telecoms technology that Samsung has patented. ... It comes a day after The Korea Times quoted an anonymous Samsung exec saying that the company would attempt to do the same thing in Korea."

14 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. The cliche practically coined for this occasion... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Turnabout is fair play."

  2. Re:The cliche practically coined for this occasion by Wolfling1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Or... payback's a bitch.

  3. Noooooo!!!! by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    It was as if millions of European hipsters suddenly cried out in pain, and were suddenly silenced.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  4. Problem by should_be_linear · · Score: 4, Funny

    it would be great idea, but Apple and Microsoft already have "being an asshole" patent in their pool.

    --
    839*929
    1. Re:Problem by Tsingi · · Score: 4, Funny

      it would be great idea, but Apple and Microsoft already have "being an asshole" patent in their pool.

      You can't patent that, too much prior art.

  5. "It's okay when we do it" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is blatant abuse of patent law and we need reform NOW. Information should be free and software patents are stupid and this is ridicul....

    Wait, someone is doing this to Apple?

    FUCK YEAH, it's about fuckin' time! This is awesome and I fully support this, go Samsung, FUCK YOU APPLE!! I HOPE YOU GET CANCER STEVE JOBS!!!!!

    1. Re:"It's okay when we do it" by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's sort of like when you hear that someone got attacked by a pit bull. You feel sorry for them at first. But then you learn it was Hitler.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    2. Re:"It's okay when we do it" by Andy+Dodd · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not quite as simple as you make it sound.

      Apple has been slapping Samsung with weak "look and feel" patents.

      Samsung is firing back with a bunch of core hardware patents... The patents they're using are closer in idea to what the patent system was originally designed for, as opposed to Apple patents which are an abuse of the patent system.

      There is also the fact that Samsung is using these in a defensive role... Apple are a bunch of douchebags who rather than seek reasonable licensing fees (this happens a LOT and you never hear about it because sane companies ask for reasonable and non-excessive fees), immediately seek injunctions to have devices removed from the market.

      --
      retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
  6. Re:The cliche practically coined for this occasion by killmenow · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Never go against a Korean...when DEATH is on the line!!!"

  7. I'm not sure which is worse... by inviolet · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Choose one:

    • * egregious espionage and mutual ripoffs of billions of R&D investments that then become unrecoverable, or
    • * constant ongoing patent wars that chew up hundreds of millions in legal costs and require billions of investment into patent warchests

    The whole situation has happened before, though. 150 years ago we had a similar war over the patents for sewing machines. It eventually led to the Sewing Machine Combination, which was a patent pool that created a 20-year cartel of four manufacturers. They were the only ones allowed to produce cutting-edge sewing machines.

    Notably, the next major innovation in sewing machines (the rotary hook) sat unexploited until the combination expired in 1876 (sources here and here.

    --
    FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
  8. Re:Isn't it great to see by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    No, I never got past the "You must be at least this arrogant to enter" sign at the Apple Store entrance.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  9. Re:The cliche practically coined for this occasion by Missing.Matter · · Score: 5, Informative

    Wow... I had no idea Samsung was so big.

    Samsung / Apple

    • Revenue: US$ 172.5b / US$ 65.23b
    • Net Profit: US$ 13.8b / US$ 14.01b
    • Total assets: US$ 294.5b / US$ 75.18b
    • Total equity: US$ 112.5b / US$ 47.79b
    • Employees: 276,000 / 49,400
  10. Re:The cliche practically coined for this occasion by sosume · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Apple has changed to many other suppliers for its components (the A5 chip comes to mind) so this argument is not valid anymore. Samsung stated that at first, they bent over and let Apple have their way in order to keep a 'healthy' business relation. But after the Galaxy line got blocked in the EU, generating a huge loss, Apple choosing other manufacturers over Samsung, and still acting like a small female dog over patents, Samsung has become quite angry and now Pandora's box is open it seems. I sincerely hope they destroy Apple or at least let them bleed with their childish tactics: crying that they are the underdog while suing all competition out of the market.

  11. Re:Isn't this escalation? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Nope. The injunction was under the insane and ridiculously vague EU Community Design system. Specifically, apple drew something vaguely tablet-like on the back of a napkin before the ipad even existed, filed it - which results in automatic approval - then used it to sue Samsung years later, being sure to file in Germany since there's no requirement to inform the other party there.