Samsung Claims iPad Mini, iPad 4, New iPod Touch Also Infringe Patents

A reader writes "Here we go again. Korean electronics giant Samsung has added three new Apple products to the list of products that the company claims infringes on its patents. In a filing to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Samsung has added the iPad mini, the new iPad 4, and the fifth-generation iPod touch to an existing lawsuit that covers devices such as the iPhone 5, iPad 4, and earlier iPod touch devices. According to the filing, Samsung believes that 'good cause exists' to add these three devices to the original infringement claim, 'because Apple's new products were not yet available when Samsung submitted its original contentions on June 15, 2012 or its first motion to supplement its infringement contentions on October 1, 2012.'"

Re:Global Thermonuclear Patent War

[History's Coming To]

You can also play the "launch all the missiles for the hell of it" card. Which is what's happening - these devices are on convergent evolutions and they're arguing over the current tiny ideas instead of the next big ones. Good reference though.

Re:And the winner is RIM

[Aranykai]

I dont know that i would consider that trend significant given the stock history over the last 5 years.

Re:And the winner is RIM

[Anubis IV]

RIM may not be taking punches from the big players, but that's only because they're being trod underfoot by them. And if you look at their long-term stock trends, rather than focusing on just a small part of it, you'd see that as well.

It's not like Apple or Samsung are going away anytime soon. Either Apple loses and has to pay damages + licensing fees for these patents (which they have plenty of money to be able to handle), or Samsung loses and things continue on as they have. Either way, RIM continues to lose major contracts with governments (as was reported here last week), loses even more contracts with businesses that are switching to newer devices that can do more (e.g. so many software developers at the company I work for use iDevices that the company bought Apple TVs for all of the conference rooms so that any of us with iDevices can use AirPlay to show our mobile screen on the projectors or TVs; not to mention Yahoo letting employees get any major smartphone except for a BB), continues to be viewed as the has-been brand that few people want for personal use, and gets pushed into more and more niche markets overseas, where they'll eventually disappear due to lower margins and increasing demands (e.g. being forced to give up private data on their network in India).

BB10 is their only hope at this point, but it's unlikely that it will be able to turn things around for them, I'd guess. I might feel differently about it if they had a recent history of putting out products that were well-received, but they haven't exactly been doing that. Besides which, Palm went under after putting out WebOS, which was universally acclaimed as being an excellent OS, which is more than I'm expecting with BB10. RIM seems to be in a bad spot at this point, so I don't see how they can hope to recover. I even have a friend working for them...we've been trying to tell him to get out for years, but he staunchly refuses to believe that they're in trouble, despite thousands of employees getting laid off and other signs of impending trouble happening all around him.

Re:We have to get rid of software patents

[Master Moose]

What better a way to compete than stopping the competition.

A pre-emptive strike to neutralise an attack before it occurs.

Let the others know that they are welcome to try and compete, but you had better have a huge legal fund.

Re:Global Thermonuclear Patent War

[viperidaenz]

If one side nukes you, the only way to not lose is to pack up your shit and go and live with the other side, before the bombs detonate/the fallout reaches you.

Re:Global Thermonuclear Patent War

[ozmanjusri]

Actually, in the patent game, both sides get to increase their cost-to-customer as well as barriers to market entry for small players and startups. For big companies, patent wars are a win, which is why they so willingly participate.

For their customers, on the other hand...

Re:Global Thermonuclear Patent War

[trout007]

Or be the lawyers.

Lawyers game

[dimeglio]

Well it's going to be another good year for law firms. I expect Samsung to have their fun as well but it's unlikely they'll have much of a case vs Apple. They might win some but lose many. Lawyers, they will all the time.

Re:And the winner is RIM

[petman]

It's interesting how the trend is totally the opposite in my part of the world. I work in a fairly large corporation here in the third world and Samsung/Android is arguably more popular amongst corporate users compared to the iPhone. In any meeting, it's not uncommon to see two-thirds or more or the attendees sporting Samsung Android phones.