IPhone 5 roped into patent dispute

Samsung Electronics said yesterday Apple’s iPhone 5 infringes its patents, escalating a global fight over mobile devices after winning a court order lifting a ban on U.S. sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer.

The world’s largest mobile-phone seller added claims about the iPhone 5, which was released last month, to an existing patent-infringement lawsuit between the two companies in federal court in San Jose, California. Apple won a $1.05 billion jury verdict against Samsung on Aug. 24 in a separate patent case in the same court.

“As soon as the iPhone 5 was available for purchase, Samsung began its investigation of the product,” the company said in its court filing on Monday.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, who is presiding over the litigation in California, rescinded a ban on the same day on U.S. sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 that she imposed in June.

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, contended the ban should remain in place because the jury found the Galaxy Tab infringed other patents at issue in the case.

The case in which Samsung added the iPhone 5 claims is scheduled for trial in 2014. Samsung’s original complaint identifies the same eight patents as the basis for alleging infringement by earlier iPhone models, as well as the iPad and iPod Touch.

Apple already has won a preliminary order from Koh blocking U.S. sales of Samsung’s Nexus smartphone.

In August, Apple added the Galaxy S3 smartphone to its list of products that it says infringe its patents. Apple said in a Sept. 19 filing that it expects to add infringement claims about “recently released Samsung products, including the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system and the Galaxy Note 10.1 device.”

Koh has scheduled December hearings in that case to consider Apple’s request for a permanent U.S. sales ban on eight Samsung smartphone models and the Tab 10.1. She will also consider Samsung’s bid to get the August verdict thrown out based on claims of juror misconduct.

Bloomberg