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SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO. has dropped one of its patent infringement lawsuits against tech giants Apple, Bloomberg reported this weekend.
The company says it has done so in an effort to “streamline” legal proceedings and not because it’s giving up on its long-running fight against Apple.
Apple and Samsung have now been waging war against each other over the makeup of their products for more than three months, with each claiming the other has stolen their original ideas.
There are law suits underway in a least five countries, including South Korea, Japan, Germany and the UK. The withdrawal of the California suit will not affect the remaining US cases or litigation in other countries, according to Bloomberg.
In response to accusations from Apple that it had copied the designs of its iPhone and iPad, Samsung claimed Apple had abused its intellectual property rights first.
The background
In April, Apple sued Samsung, claiming that the South Korea-based had built products too similar in design to the Apple iPhone and iPad. At the time, Steve Jobs’ firm said Samsung had used the “trade dress” of its smartphone and tablet in its Galaxy line.
Samsung countersued that same month, saying Apple infringed on 10 of its patents.
In a separate court case last month, a US judge rejected Samsung’s request to see Apple’s fifth generation iPhone and third version of the iPad.
In statements to the Wall Street Journal last night, spokespeople for both companies touted the need to protect their intellectual property.
The battle is an interesting one as Jobs had previously dismissed the Galaxy line of products, giving the impression that he did not believe them to be a threat to the popular iPhone or iPad.
However, it’s a tricky situation because in some ways both companies need each other as Apple is one of Samsung’s biggest clients. It relies on it for component supplies such as chips and LCD displays.
Yesterday, Samsung said that it had sold 3 million of its Galaxy SII devices, confirming its number 2 position in the smartphone market.
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I love my I phone 4 . Can’t live without it.???
I have an iPhone 3 and I can’t live without it!!!
I bought an iPhone 3GS just under a year ago. It works now as well as it did the day I turned it on. The only complaints would b battery life and non flash support. Will prob upgrade to 5 eventually as have never heard complaints about my model but heard a few regarding 4.
l love my Samsung galaxy :-)
I don’t. Mine consistently disappoints. It hangs on a daily basis, randomly changes it’s report on battery level, is often dog slow at doing basic things, regularly drops connectivity and feels like a phone that should cost a quarter of what it does.
Samsung Galaxy S2 – superb phone at almost any front and real iPHONE contender, but still cannot eliminate feeling of being bit cheap. Plastic does not impress me, built quality nowhere near iPHONE4, which is in my humble opinion a perfection.
Try the htc desire or desire hd so, way more sturdier
Bought an iphone 4, approx 6 months ago.
Never again……
-too restrictive,
-odd menu configurations,
-little or no understandable web help, –Apple-only ring tones,
-no ‘phone-only’ setting (a la Blackberry)
-Miserable battery life (typically 1 day to 1.5 days)
-Awful touchscreen for typing things like this.
-Everything is a hassle with Apple (transferring contacts, no adobe, etc)
-constantly drops calls
NEVER AGAIN !
I call it my Why-phone—–> why spend so much on R&D, develop a potentially great piece of kit and end up with this piece of rubbish
Its a bit like Callum Best, looks cool but is completely useless !!
Give me my Nokia or even my Blackberry back
That’s why you jailbreak. To get rid of Apple’s stupid limitations.
@Barry R.: out of all your points can only agree with problems dropping calls everynow and then and flash support. Ah most important, don’t call me iPhone fanboy, I have HTC phone. The rest in not really a truth and you will know that if you get deeper into this phone. Transferring contacts? Sync with Outlook through iTunes or even through WiFi/3G and Gmail and you have them transferred in 30 seconds, beautifully easy. Awful touch screen? Then maybe I saw some different phone. iPhone’s 4 screen is best around, brilliant typing accuracy combined with crisp sharp graphics. Too restrictive? That suits most people great, if you feel like messing around jail break it. “Phone only” setting? What do you mean by that? Just turn off wifi and mobile network data. Battery life? As above turn off services you don’t use, wifi, bluetooth, etc. Anyways you need to be more forgiving here, blackberry screen quality is like 10 years behind iPhone, hence they manage great battery life. You get great screen – something needs to suffer…
I love my iPhone and my iPad !
Samsung Galaxy Ace a lovely light phone with all the apps etc you need.
I agree nice phone if you need to budget a bit as well.
Apple all the way!!! :-)
… I have a nokia?
Samsung galaxy s is without doubt the worst phone I’ve ever owned. Constant issues make it so frustrating to use. Only 6 months into an 18 month contract but don’t think I’ll be keeping it much longer. Very much anti Apple but at least the iphone would be reliable which I’d happily settle for at this stage
@William Walsh: yep, I am actually using HTC :) Was just saying opinion about Samsung. S2 seems to be the king of the hill for Android OS now, where personally I’d go with HTC Sensation, newest HTC baby. Only small bit worse performance than S2, but better built quality. HTC not far behind apple with build quality.
how the head today booby?
@ Christopher bring it back. ….mine works fine haven’t had any problems so far…i love the apps and the fact Im able to watch internet T.v like 4od and rte player because the flasplauer isn’t blocked
have your say