Posted on 10/06/2011 4:10:37 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Samsung Files Massive Lawsuit Against Apple
Samsung Electronics has filed a massive patent-infringement lawsuit against Apple which could cost about W70 trillion in Paris and Milan, seeking bans on the sale of the Apple iPhone 4S (US$1=W1,192). Samsung said Apple continues to flagrantly violate its patents and it is considering lawsuits in other countries as well.
Paradoxically, Apple is not only Samsung's top rival in the global smartphone market but also its biggest client for chips and LCD screens. Apple is expected to buy a total of USS$7.8 billion worth of parts from Samsung this year. But Samsung decided to push ahead with the lawsuit even at the risk of damaging relations with Apple. In the worst-case scenario, Samsung may have to forfeit the massive portion of sales Apple accounts for.
Sales of Samsung's tablet PC Galaxy Tab 10.1 have been banned in Germany following a lawsuit filed by Apple, and the product has not even been unveiled in Australia also due to legal action. At this rate, Samsung feels its entire smartphone and tablet PC business is at risk.
If Samsung loses the case, it must compensate for all the sales Apple stands to lose due to the legal dispute. According to U.S. consulting agency Piper Jaffray, Apple is forecast to sell 25 million units of the iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S in the fourth quarter of this year. And the iPhone 4S, the target of Samsung's lawsuit, would account for 75 percent of total sales once it is released later this month. That means Apple stands to lose W15 trillion in sales during the October to December period if each iPhone 4 costs W800,000.
The trial is expected to last at least a year, so Apple's losses could swell to W60 trillion. Combined with the amount of products Apple buys from Samsung, Samsung could end up paying W70 trillion in compensation. Asked about the high-stakes lawsuit, a senior Samsung executive said, "We are confident that Apple cannot manufacture its smartphones without using our patented communication technologies."
Apple has yet to comment about Samsung's lawsuit. Apple was the first to start the patent battle by filing a lawsuit in the U.S. in April claiming Samsung's Galaxy S infringed its smartphone design. At present, Apple and Samsung are locked in some 20 different lawsuits in nine countries, including Korea, Australia and Germany. The legal battle is expected to be protracted.
Filed when Steve Jobs died. Bad timing? Good timing?
Not many people know about the suit yet. So they lay low for about a week and resume legal battle when the funeral is over.
well their own stuff was banned because of Apple. I wish they took out all the lawyers and just tried to compete on tech
If they did, Apple continues to lose in our household.
I’m a very happy, long-term Sprint customer. I never got into the iPhone because AT&T’s network sucks so badly. So when the Galaxy S came out, I bought one. I couldn’t be happier. I don’t want or need an iPhone. (I do want an iPad.)
What nonsense!
First, lawsuits take weeks/months to file.
Second, Steve Jobs is not Apple. One is a man, the other is a corporation.
Third, life goes on. Get over it.
I asked if it was good or bad timing. Telling me to get over it (what exactly am I to get over?) makes no sense?
I’ve got a question: If iphones are so great, why are iphone sales subsidised by carriers?
They ain’t that great, IMO.
Did Apple make a worthless product that they didn't back and Samsuck is claiming patent infringement?
If folks want to buy Apple products, fine by me. I just don’t get why subjects like the subsidies for iphones don’t get more attention.
Simply stated...because they are superfluous.
Not to me, pard. The costs incurred by my carrier are being passed along to me.
Get over the timing of the lawsuit and Steve Jobs passing.
That is not directed 100% at you (maybe 25%), but at those who will inevitably try to say this was bad timing on the part of Samsung.
True enough, but you choose to do business with a carrier that, rightly or wrongly, decided it was a sound business decision to accede to one of the prerequisites Apple has shrewdly demanded for exclusive use of their product. That decision is reflected in the “price.” You accept it or you do not; obviously, plenty of consumers did.
Personally, I’m of the opinion that the iPhone is the only thing that saved those too-smart-by-half bastards at ATT from leaving the consumer market completely.
If you’ll remember, prior to adoption of the iPhone, ATT was seriously considering going completely commercial....I believe because their “we’re ATT and we don’t need you” policies had so damaged their consumer business they were about to “declare victory, and run away.”
You have to admit, the whole thing does have the feel of “The old King is dead: let the invasion begin!”
When it becomes known that somebody has lots of money, somebody else will try to take it.
Because the carriers are selling bandwidth, and iPhones make it easy to use up lots of it.
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