Apple sues samsung over copyrights and patents
According to court documents, Electronics Giant Apple Inc. announced earlier today that it would be suing Samsung Electronics, claiming that most of their products, including phones and tablets, closely resembled the iPhone and iPad. Most analysts believe that the move by Apple was meant to stop their competitor from ‘copying’ their products and to keep them from duplicating their technology.
This latest litigation is just the latest in many court battles, where electronic companies battle over copyrights and patents to the technology used in smartphones and tablets. The competition has been very ferrous as sales on smartphones and tablets have been skyrocketing in the past few years. The emerging market has been the fastest growing market in electronics and many companies are looking to cash in on the trend.
Among the chief competitors involve in this web of litigation is Apple. They are credited to bringing smartphone technology to the market with their iPhone and revolutionizing the tablet market with the successful release of the iPad. However, this does not make them immune from the legal battles. As recent as last month, Nokia sued Apple over alleged infringements of patent rights that they used for the iPhone and the iPad.
“If Apple fails to fend off Android, it will within a year or two, find itself in a situation like Research in Motion, even if at a higher level initially,” said Florian Mueller, a technology specialist on patent battles. “Apple has realized this already as its new lawsuit against Samsung shows, but given what’s at stake, I think Apple would have to do much more than this. It would have to sue more Android device makers and over more patents.”
Samsung has emerged as a major rival in the smartphone market and has emerged as Apple’s strongest competitor, but Apple still has a huge lead over most of its competitors, including second place, Samsung. Samsung’s Galaxy products use Google’s Android operating system. The android system directly competes with Apple’s own mobile software. Also, to better compete with Apple’s iPad, Samsung released its new, thinner 10.1-inch tablet last February.
Samsung said in a statement that it would respond to the legal action through appropriate legal measures in order to protect their intellectual property. Apple’s iPhone and iPad still dominated the market, although it will see its market share gradually eroded over the next few years, in order to give room for the booming Android devices market.
references:: http://kozmedia.com/apple-sues-samsung-over-copyrights-and-patents/224109/
