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Patents Australia Handhelds Apple

Samsung Plans To Block the iPhone 5 In Korea 178

Posted by Soulskill from the divvying-up-the-world's-markets dept.
c0lo writes "In apparent retaliation to its U.S. rival's continual patent challenges in global markets, Samsung Electronics is seeking a complete ban on the sales of the upcoming Apple iPhone 5 in Korea. This is one of Samsung's several recently-opened fronts in the patent world wars: Apple was sued in France on 3 technical patents and counter-sued in Australia over 7 technical patents (after an Apple 'offensive' temporarily blocked Galaxy Tab for the Australian market)."
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Samsung Plans To Block the iPhone 5 In Korea More

Samsung Plans To Block the iPhone 5 In Korea

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  • Popcorn (Score:1, Redundant)

    by Tomato42 ( 2416694 )
    Where's the popcorn when I need it?! Ah! Here it is! Now the show may begin!

  • Landlines coming (Score:5, Insightful)

    by neonv ( 803374 ) on Monday September 19, 2011 @01:47PM (#37445246)

    Soon all cell phones will be banned because of their dangerous IP infringement, and the landline will return as the obviously superior technology

  • Sleeping Giant (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Looks like apple woke a sleeping giant that actually has real patents.

  • How to innovate in a Mexican patent standoff? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by elrous0 ( 869638 ) * on Monday September 19, 2011 @01:49PM (#37445288)

    You know, I remember as a kid learning about the great inventions and inventors and thinking how cool it would be to come up with the next great idea. Now when I think about coming up with the next great idea, all I can picture is how I would even *begin* to deal with all the patent lawsuits that would inevitably follow.

    Maybe there is someone out there who has the grain of insight in his mind that could lead to a radical advance in propulsion that could make a manned mission to Mars practical. But if the first thing that some venture capitalist tells him is "We'd love to fund this, but there is no way we can afford to defend you in the onslaught of patent lawsuits" how is it ever going to materialize? Patent trolls and patent collectors make it harder and harder for anything that isn't mainstream and almost immediately marketable from ever making it past the concept phase.

    • Simple:

      Invent a method to fix the patent system. (Hint: you'll need guns, lots of guns!)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by elrous0 ( 869638 ) *

        Or I guess you could always start your own country and refuse to recognize anyone else's patents. Of course, that would probably require lots of guns too.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by AvitarX ( 172628 )

          But you still couldn't sell somewhere else.

          You'd need to have huge internal demand for that to work.

          • If you'd make high quality stuff and cheaper than people would come to your country and buy it. (even to later sell it on eBay with an additional fee)

    • Re:How to innovate in a Mexican patent standoff? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Nethemas the Great ( 909900 ) on Monday September 19, 2011 @02:02PM (#37445486)
      Don't worry, the US has recently passed a patent reform bill. All is solved.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Nikker ( 749551 )
      Unfortunately there are only 2 ways to go if you have a good idea.
      1. Get funding / startup your own company based your idea, get sued before your business cards get back from Kinkos
      2. Hire a lawyer, don't make anything but a simple numbered company with no offices or employees and shotgun legal notices to every fortune 500 company to see what sticks

      Now all these companies talk about 'innovation' and I ask compared to what?

    • Re:How to innovate in a Mexican patent standoff? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by bonch ( 38532 ) on Monday September 19, 2011 @02:19PM (#37445788)

      If I only got my news from Slashdot every day, I'd probably have an alarmist worldview too, yet in spite of your dire hypotheticals, the world's technology is totally amazing right now and better than ever.

      Slashdot posts so many patent stories because it generates pageviews. Always gotta have something for people to raise their fists over.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sconeu ( 64226 )

        If I only got my news from Slashdot every day, I'd probably have an alarmist worldview too

        Because the patent world has gone batshit-crazy. Patenting a "rounded rectangle" for a phone???? REALLY?????

      • yet in spite of your dire hypotheticals, the world's technology is totally amazing right now and better than ever.

        Except for periods of technological regression, your statement holds true for any moment in history. We're not concerned about the state of technological progress here, we're concerned about the rate of technological progress. The argument for patent reform is that without these sorts of patent fights draining tech companies of money and stifling innovation, the world's technology would be e

      • Maybe you missed it, but TFA is about how that totally amazing technology was being banned from sale because two giant companies are going to war over patents. Totally amazing technology that's not available is not much good to anyone.

    • You know, I remember as a kid learning about the great inventions and inventors and thinking how cool it would be to come up with the next great idea. Now when I think about coming up with the next great idea, all I can picture is how I would even *begin* to deal with all the patent lawsuits that would inevitably follow.

      It's even worse. You come to think that the thing you might pour your soul into, will eventually be taken hostage by some sleazy scum bag waiting for "idiots like us" to come up with the next great thing. Most of us would loose the waiting game. In several occasions I for one have refrained from doing exactly what I described in order not to become entangled in some legal loosing game. It would be save to assume that I'm not the only one to have done so. For that reason I think the patent system hinders sof

  • Risk (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    does these patent wars seem like the board game Risk to anyone else?

  • Apple Deserves This (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    That's what you get for using the courts to block your competitors.

    Google's acquisition of Motorola will be the final nail Steve Jobs' coffin.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Panaflex ( 13191 )

      Google's acquisition of Motorola will be the final nail Steve Jobs' coffin.

      Perhaps literally... ouch!
      (I hope not!)

  • I bought a Samsung Galaxy S II GT-I9100. It is superior to the iPhone in any way I could measure. Android Gingerbread is smooth and seamless and has fixed the "chunkyness" of Froyo.

    I can see why Apple has gone to the darkside of law suits.

    • I bought a Samsung Galaxy S II GT-I9100. It is superior to the iPhone in any way I could measure. Android Gingerbread is smooth and seamless and has fixed the "chunkyness" of Froyo.

      I can see why Apple has gone to the darkside of law suits.

      Awesome. I'm sure your comment will be modded up, but how does your insight relate to the posted article?

      • Re:Apple should be worried (Score:4, Interesting)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 ) on Monday September 19, 2011 @02:20PM (#37445794) Homepage

        The implication is when your product and your profit mark up are no longer competitive, companies often seek other legal manipulations, political corruption and, deceitful mass media to keep other products out and of course to continue to artificially inflate their profit margins.

        So the big question is who will be the winner in the consumer eyes, who will be seen as the manipulative, conniving, greedy, anti-customer, corporation holding the end user hostage to the greed of corporate executives out of control.

        Even if they break even, Apple loses badly, as the fashion conscious technology unconscious product any tarnishing of their marketing image will cost them hugely.

        • The implication is when your product and your profit mark up are no longer competitive, companies often seek other legal manipulations, political corruption and, deceitful mass media to keep other products out and of course to continue to artificially inflate their profit margins.

          Were you referring to Apple? This article is about Samsung trying to block the iPhone 5.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Dan Ost ( 415913 )

            "Just deserts"

            Or, if you prefer,

            "What goes around, comes around"

            The perception is that this move by Samsung is in direct response to Apple's litigation in other countries.

            • Apple sued Samsung because their product looked almost exactly like an iPad. If you were far enough away not to be able to read the logo, or it was covered by a finger, you'd probably think both products were the same. This is not something that can happen 'accidentally' and not something that slows innovation when stopped.

              Then, in retaliation, Samsung sues Apple over broad brushed 'technical' patents that are dubious at best (along with I'd estimate 98% of granted technical patents that hardly meet the obv

              • The problem though is when your far enough away that a Samsung looks like a iPad, then just about every 10" tablet looks like a iPad.

        • I'm genuinely confused. The article is about Samsung's alleged decision to attempt to ban sales of a currently unreleased and unannounced model of iPhone. Kurt555gs posts about how brilliant his Samsung phone is and concludes with the statement that he "can see why Apple has gone to the darkside of law suits." What has that got to do with the article? We've done many articles on Apple's lawsuits. If you want to comment on their relevance to this development - great. But FFS, we can't just go on posting the

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by splatter ( 39844 )

      I agree.

      I have a Iphone v. 2 wife has a Samsung galaxy as well. Once you get over the size of the thing it's very nice. The OS eye candy is very cool & the apps as expected. Long term I don't know how stable it is because I'm not a regular user of her phone, but my wife has yet to complain. Personally I'm about sick of all the browser crashes, lockups, Apple glitches & work arounds needed to make my phone "just work".

      Oh and ditto for the Ipad. We got ours as a give away, and it useful & has som

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by joss ( 1346 )

        My v.2 wife has an HTC desire, I wouldnt let her get an iphone. Dunno what v.1 wife has, kinda lost backwards compatability on communication there when I upgraded..

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by toriver ( 11308 )

      So I guess since Samsung sue Apple over the iPhone 5 they know it is superior to the S II as well then? *preorders*

      • No, It won't allow you to make full use of the bluetooth, it won't work as an fm radio and it won't let you use it as removable storage without installing itunes on every pc you want to connect it too.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mgblst ( 80109 )

      Battery life? Size (it is quite big).

      Ha ha ha, sure it is a great phone, but that is a silly statement.

  • Capitalism is becoming a judged sport (Score:5, Insightful)

    by timeOday ( 582209 ) on Monday September 19, 2011 @01:54PM (#37445374)
    There are sports like running where the rules are simple and determining the winner is simple, perhaps even automated. Then there are judged sports like gymnastics and ice skating where winning boils down to subjectivity.

    The world economy is increasingly based on intellectual property, which is not governed by the physical laws of production capacity and unit cost. Instead intellectual property is government by subjective judgements about who deserves how much of the credit. These judgements are formalized in patent and copyright law, but they still come down to interpretation and value judgement. There is no firm ground to stand on.

    • NOT Capitalism (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      You are 100% correct, except that you are describing presisely what capitalism is NOT. The first and foremost prerequisite of capitalism is voluntary association. Capitalism is founded on the lack of coercion (i.e. government interference) in the market, not the presence of it.

      Remember that we are talking about the most expensive, most powerful government in world history. Again, capitalism is defined by the lack of government, not the presence of it. Theoretically, the purest form of capitalism is anarchy

      • You are 100% correct, except that you are describing presisely what capitalism is NOT. The first and foremost prerequisite of capitalism is voluntary association. Capitalism is founded on the lack of coercion (i.e. government interference) in the market, not the presence of it.

        Oh, it's so cute you believe that.

        But capitalism is the operation of a purely for profit business, not a voluntary association. It is quite fond of coercion when there is profit to be found. Our most successful capitalists are wi

  • Koreans are known to claim [fill in this blank] originates from Korea. http://koreasparkling.wordpress.com/ [wordpress.com]

  • Don't hate the player, hate the game (Score:4, Insightful)

    by xRelisH ( 647464 ) on Monday September 19, 2011 @02:00PM (#37445462)
    Seriously, people are quick to jump on companies that are doing the suing, but the problem at heart is that there needs to be some serious patent reform. Until then, companies will sue for whatever ridiculous reason there might be if it leads to happier shareholders.

    • It won't happen until this Imaginary Property theatre goes on entertainment news shows [wikipedia.org]

      Nobody watches/reads the news. It's all the same filtered stuff.
      And anybody who wants real news has to surf for it b/c it's censored.

    • A lot of the major "players" helped make the "game" the nightmare of litigation and stifled innovation that it is today.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Yvanhoe ( 564877 )
      I'll hate the game and the company that caused the patent cold war to escalate to the global patent war.

  • The only people to suffer are the consumers right...

    Who cares about those.

  • ..Apple is going to great lengths, and why Samsung should bite back harder:
    http://betanews.com/2011/09/18/iphone-5-has-a-big-problem [betanews.com]
    Spoiler: might be to draw attention from it's late iPhone5 release cycle.
  • I'm rather curious as to when sci-fi will become fulfilled prophecy as these companies go to war with real weapons.

    • Showdowns between C*Os and boards of directors? take-all-my-money.jpg

      Though I'm quite sure that it will be regular employees only, even not lawyers.

    • This was my first thought. "I wonder how much longer until we have real corporate wars." We're already close enough with the industrial-military complex and the fact that corporations basically buy their own Congressmen (as they have been since the 1800s). I think the only thing that really stops them is that governments still have slightly more power than the major corporations.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      I'm rather curious as to when sci-fi will become fulfilled prophecy as these companies go to war with real weapons.

      Yes, Apple has already designed it's iArmy, they will be dressed in shiny white armour with highly inaccurate weapons that can only fire one shot at a time. I believe they will look something like this [wikia.com].

  • The seed of patent reform with any luck... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Hopefully, with the current thermonuclear melt down going on between the "big boys" over all those bogus patents, the people holding those patents will come to realize that bogus patents cause more trouble than they are worth (literally). Maybe then the big boys will get on the bandwagon to eliminate bogus patents from the system.

    By "bogus" I mean patents that are trying to claim that "one click checkout" is a novel, cutting edge technology (or using gestures to unlock a smart phone, or the colors used for

  • Could the patent system collapse under its weight? (Score:3)

    by excelsior_gr ( 969383 ) on Monday September 19, 2011 @02:39PM (#37446146)

    Could it be that the patent system is biting the technology companies, that they themselves brought it into existence and nourished it, in the ass? And, if yes, would they ever realize it?

    I work for a fairly large chemical company and we stopped filing for patents. Although the purpose of a patent is to protect the inventor, it inevitably makes the idea accessible by the competition. Since all chemical factories are private grounds protected by fences and guards, we cannot check whether our competitors have actually stolen our patented inventions (and, of course, nor can they). Besides, we have better stuff to do than going through all production facilities in China to check every damn apparatus to see whether we should file a lawsuit or not.

    So there you have it. No patents, no trouble. Just a big ol' fence and LOTS of security (both physical and IT). We also stopped publishing our research findings to conferences and journals and we demand a confidentiality agreement from every university that sends students to work for us.

  • FTFA: [koreatimes.co.kr]
    ``For as long as Apple does not drop mobile telecommunications functions, it would be impossible for it to sell its i-branded products without using our patents. We will stick to a strong stance against Apple during the lingering legal fights.’’

    Samsung owns mobile telecommunications? So every cellphone infringes? Wow, how'd they get that patent?

  • Let's say if iPhone 5 sales get blocked and people buy them illegaly. Can they still use them?

  • This is almost entirely a Good Thing. (Score:3)

    by Weedhopper ( 168515 ) on Monday September 19, 2011 @05:21PM (#37448948)
    We should be encouraging more behavior like this.

    How many who are reading /. now believe that the patent system is actually functioning well and serving the public in the way it was supposed to? Anyone who keeps remotely abreast with tech and science trends knows that the current patent system (and for matter, intellectual property law in general) is massively broken.

    Reform will only come when the waves get big enough that the public starts paying attention. That's not going to happen with the equivalent of small scale knife fights that get settled behind closed doors.

    To make real reform happen, it needs to get to a point when high profile players with very deep pockets get to a point where neither will back down. Even better is if all parties involved start generating some real fear, uncertainly and doubt. Get the public to pay attention. Really make it seem like the nuclear options are on the table. Aka, "If we lose, we're going to have to disable X features on your device..."

    Then we'll see some action. Then we might some serious attempts at reform.

    Apple taking the hard line on this on so many fronts seems so nonsensical that I half believe that they're doing this on purpose. If you're Apple, I think you see the writing on the wall. Doing what Apple does best (other than making money) on the production side - putting together other people's ideas into a smart, well-designed, consumer-friendly package - is going to get harder and harder with these shackles and hillbilly armor that everyone's weighing themselves down with. If you think about it, Apple doesn't usually invent most of the tech in their products.

    Really, is this absurdity that far-fetched? The level of Apple's aggression on so many fronts is mind-boggling.

    I think Google's got a Plan, too. We already know that Google types think of massive patent bidding wars - they were submitting joke bids during the Nortel auctions.

    That's my fantasy, anyway. In this fantasy, the world is Good & Just. Apple hasn't taken over the role of Evil Empire from Microsoft and Google's policy of do no evil actually means something.

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