Apple iPhone 4S could be barred from sale in Italy and France
Apple (NASDAQ:APPL) could see its iPhone 4S barred from sale in Italy and France if rival Samsung gets its way.
On Wednesday, Samsung Electronics announced it has filed separate preliminary injection motions in both Paris and Milan, citing an infringement on two of its patents.
The maker of the Galaxy line of smartphones and tablet computers said the new iPhone uses its technology in its mobile handsets, namely the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access standards.
Apple only launched its iPhone 4S yesterday. The device is a revamped version of the current iPhone 4, but with better features, like a faster processor, speech recognition, and a high-resolution camera. Still, investors are anxiously awaiting the company's much-hyped iPhone 5, which may be released next year.
Samsung said Apple's violation is too severe, and requested that the device should be barred from sale.
"Apple has continued to flagrantly violate our intellectual property rights and free ride on our technology," Samsung said in a statement on its blog.
"We believe it is now necessary to take legal action to protect our innovation."
This is only one in several of lawsuits between the two companies. According to reports, the companies have sued each other more than 20 times in ten different countries in the last five months alone.
Next week, they're due to meet in courtrooms in the US, the Netherlands, and South Korea, battling over the payment of licensing fees.
Samsung said Apple owes it licensing fees for some of its patents before the company started selling its flagship iPhone in 2007. But Apple said that Samsung never demanded the fee until 2010.
Apple is a major customer for Samsung, mainly purchasing its chips and displays.
Samsung said it is planning to file injunctions in other countries following review.
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