Apple, Samsung Outbreak of Global Patent Litigation

This year, two well-known electronics companies from Apple and Samsung broke out a fierce patent infringement lawsuit. Following Europe, the United States, and Australia, Apple recently opened a battlefield in Japan and accused Samsung Galaxy of infringing iPhone and iPad patent rights in Tokyo. The lawsuit has reached 23 cases and spread to four continents including North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

Experts believe that behind Apple's patent litigation against Samsung, the essence is to use patents to stop Samsung’s new Android-based smartphones and tablet PCs to maintain its leading position in the market. If the situation continues to develop, it is not ruled out that the two sides may also initiate similar lawsuits in mainland China. For global IT companies, this litigation further highlights the concept of “the patentee gets the world” and the global new round of patented “enclosure movement” will become even fiercer.

Apple Global v. Samsung Patent Infringement The patent wars between Apple and Samsung began in April this year, when Apple took the lead and filed a lawsuit in the United States suing the Samsung Galaxy series of mobile phones and tablet products for allegedly infringing the company’s patents for iPhone and iPad products. And trademark rights, and accused the other party of unfair competition.

According to Apple's complaint, Samsung’s most fundamental reason for angering Apple is that its popular Galaxy series smartphones and tablet PCs copied the design of the iPhone and iPad, especially in terms of appearance. Apple spokesman Kristin Hughter said in a statement: "Samsung's newest products are very similar to the iPhone and iPad, from the appearance to the user interface and even the packaging. This blatant plagiarism is wrong. We need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when other companies plagiarize creativity.” Apple filed a total of 16 accusations against Samsung, including improper profits, infringement of trademark rights, and infringement of 10 patents.

In addition to prosecuting Samsung in the United States, Apple subsequently launched patent infringement lawsuits in various countries including the Netherlands, Australia, Germany, and Japan, pointing out that Samsung's smart devices infringe on its technology and design patents and require the prohibition of sales and import of related products.

In response to Apple's allegations, Samsung was not to be outdone. In a statement issued by it, Samsung stated: “Samsung will actively respond to lawsuits and take legal measures to protect our intellectual property rights.” Shortly thereafter, Samsung also filed counterclaims against Apple in six countries. The iPad and iPhone copied the 12 patents held by the company. For example, on September 17, Samsung filed a lawsuit against the Federal Court of Australia against Apple, claiming that Apple’s iPhone and iPad infringed on its seven patents. On September 18th, Samsung submitted a lawsuit to the German court requesting the repeal of the ban on Samsung's sales of the Galaxy series tablet computers. On September 20, an executive from Samsung revealed to the outside world that once Apple’s iPhone5 is listed, Samsung will file an infringement lawsuit against Apple.

“2011 was the year when mobile intelligent terminal products broke out, and it was also the year when intellectual property disputes concerning mobile intelligent terminal products broke out.” Wang Yanhui, secretary general of the Mobile China Alliance, said that Apple’s launch of another round of offensive against Samsung is due to The era of mobile smart terminals has just arrived, the old industry order has been broken, and the new balance has not yet been reached, it is precisely in this case, the patent became the best weapon for companies to suppress their competitors.

In the name of the patent to suppress Android

Apple currently purchases billions of dollars worth of components from Samsung every year. Since this year, it has successively initiated patent infringement lawsuits against Samsung. Experts believe that the main reason is that the Android camp represented by the Samsung Galaxy series smartphones and tablet computers is increasingly emerging. Apple’s market hegemony felt a potential crisis.

Apple’s latest financial report shows that in the second quarter of this year, Apple sold 20.3 million iPhones and sold 9.25 million iPads. According to market research firm Strategy Analytics, global smartphone shipments in the second quarter of this year increased by 76% year-on-year to 110 million units, of which Apple and Samsung surpassed Nokia, which has long been ranked number one for a long time, and leaped to become the world’s top two intelligences. Mobile phone manufacturers.

While occupying the top position of the global smart phone market, Samsung's threat has also made Apple not dare to ignore it. In the second quarter of 2010, Samsung’s smart phone sales were only 3.1 million units, which was 5.3 million less than Apple’s. However, sales volume in the second quarter of 2011 soared more than 5 times to reach 19 million units, and the gap between Apple’s smartphones and Apple’s was only 1.1 million. unit. According to the statistics report on mobile phone shipments in Western Europe in the second quarter of 2011 released by the market research company IDC, Samsung ranked first in smartphone market share with 22%, followed by Apple, which was one percentage point behind. It is worth noting that in the IDC statistics, shipments of Samsung smartphones in Western Europe increased by 700% year-on-year.

It is in the face of Samsung's potential rivals to make rapid progress, Apple began to “press the Android in the name of a patent,” suing Samsung in violation of its patent rights in many countries around the world. "Apple's goal is clear and direct, to protect intellectual property rights and protect innovative litigation, to achieve the end result of the market. Its purpose is to stop Samsung's new smartphones and tablet computers based on the Android system. Therefore, Apple's lawsuit request In addition to claiming economic compensation for infringement, the main reason is to prevent Samsung's products from being sold on shelves," said one person in the industry.