Apple eyes ban on new Galaxy S III

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September 3, 2012

Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone

US tech giant Apple has expanded its list of South Korean company Samsung products that it does not want to see on the shelves of US stores.

The company has added the Galaxy S III smartphone to a list of models that it thinks have infringed its patents. The phone went on sale in the U.S. in June.

Other Samsung devices named in the complaint are: Galaxy S III – Verizon, Galaxy Note, Galaxy S II Skyrocket, Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S II – T-Mobile, Galaxy S II – AT&T, Galaxy Nexus, Illusion, Captivate Glide, Exhibit II 4G, Stratosphere, Transform Ultra, Admire, Conquer 4G and Dart.

Apple also eyes a ban on Samsung tablets: Galaxy Player 4.0, Galaxy Player 5.0 media players, and the Galaxy Note 10.1, Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus and Galaxy Tab 8.9.

The US company accuses Samsung of flooding the market with “copycat products”.

“Apple’s move may not have an immediate impact on sales, but the image for the new products is getting hurt. The news headlines are all implying that while Apple is leading innovations, Samsung just copied,” says Ahn Seong Ho, an analyst at Hanwha Securities Co.

Samsung will take the necessary legal measures to keep its products available in the U.S., the Korean company says in a statement, adding that Apple is seeking to limit consumer choice.

Apple’s request for a permanent ban on U.S. sales of Samsung devices will be considered at December 6 hearing, reports Bloomberg.

However, in some countries Apple-Samsung patent wars have already come to an end.

On August 31, Tokyo court ruled that South Korean technology giant Samsung had not infringed any US company Apple’s patents,

The ruling said Samsung smartphones and a tablet had not infringed on an Apple invention for synchronizing music and video data with servers.

On August 24, California court ruled that Samsung smartphone and tablet products had violated a number of Apple patents protecting several designs and functions — including the rectangular shape and rounded edges of the iPhone and the pinch-to-zoom gesture.

The court also awarded Apple more than $1 billion in damages.

Earlier, a South Korean court fined both Apple and Samsung, ruling that both of the companies infringed each other’s patents and banning some of their products from sale in the country.

The court also ordered the two parties to pay monetary compensation to each other. Samsung must pay Apple $22,000 while Apple must pay its rival $35,000.

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