Samsung has abandoned all attempts to play nice with

Apple, its legal rival (though still one of its largest

customers). It has gone on the offensive in a Dutch
lawsuit, claiming the iPhone maker infringes its patents
"structurally" - and it has enlisted Verizon Wireless to its
cause, highlighting cellcos' concern that Apple is becoming
too powerful.
Although Samsung has countersued Apple in three
continents, its legal response to the string of patent and
design infringement suits has been relatively low-key,
given that the Korean firm is one of the world's largest IPR
holders. Apple's weakness, in patent terms, is in areas of
fundamental cellular and chip technology, as shown by its
climbdown compromise with Nokia earlier this year. This is
where Samsung is strong, and its relative reticence in
deploying its heavy ammunition has been assumed to be
an attempt to keep Apple on board as a customer for
memory, processors and displays.

Samsung vs. Apple: And The

Winner Is...
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iphone4-vs-galaxy-s-head

If you have been paying attention to the battle between Samsung and Apple,
you might have noticed that Samsung has been rather quiet about the lawsuits
Apple has filed against the consumer giant. Apple has filed in multiple
countries including Germany where the court ruled against Samsung and
banned the direct sale of the new Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the country. The
court said the design too closely resembles Apples 2. Samsung quickly
appealed the decision, of course. The courts decision seems to have triggered
a new attitude at Samsung. That new attitude is angry and now they are not
being so quiet, or as Lee Younghee, head of global marketing for mobile
communications for Samsung said Well be pursuing our rights for this in a
more aggressive way from now on. Samsung has filed its own lawsuits
against Apple claiming they are infringing on patents that they hold in
wireless technology. The legal battle has spread to 10 countries from the US
to of course, Germany.
The difficult part of this battle is that Apple is a huge customer for Samsung
since they are the largest memory storage manufacturer and other products
such as LCD screens that are a part of Apple products. If you compare the S
and the Apple iPhone 4, its easy to see why Apple has picked this fight but, is
there more to this battle? I think so. If you map out the digital
media landscape you will notice that Apple has yet to truly capture one area,
the living room. Samsung on the other hand not only resides in your living
room, but, they have your kitchen and even your laundry room. Combine this
with wireless tablets and phones enabled to run multi-media apps, games,
music and movies and Samsung is positioned to be the single most dominant
factor in the industry. With WiFi connections between these devices,
housewives can get a notification on their TV from the dryer telling them the

clothes are dry or operating your microwave from your phone so dinner is
ready by the time you get home.
If Samsung were to make some strategic acquisitions and key partners in the
content distribution space they could very well become a more compelling
consumer value proposition down the road. I know there is a love affair with
Apple but a solid consumer proposition that extends across multiple areas of
your life can be cause for divorce from even the likes of Apple. If Apple
delivers a 52 inch Ipad into living rooms in the near future, you will see this
battle heat up even more.
For a perspective on the studio backed UltraViolet Alliance and its potential to
change the digital media landscape. Read my next article here
Derek Broes is a media and technology executive with 16 years experience.
He served as Senior Vice President of Digital Strategy and Business
Development at Paramount Pictures and also ran Global Wireless Strategy
and Business Development for the digital media division at Microsoft
Corporation.
Author does not own stock in either company.

In what is going to be the war of the titans, Samsung upped the stakes in its battle with
Apple today. The day after the underwhelming launch of the iPhone 4S Samsung stepped up
its defense of its Galaxy 10.1 tablet. An executive from Samsung stated Apple has
continued to flagrantly violate our intellectual property rights and free-ride on our
technologyWe will steadfastly protect our intellectual property. This follows on from the
previous TMV post on this topic (which you can read here), whereby we state that Apple is
not as clean as it would like to portray in terms of this raging patent battle.
According to Samsung spokesman James Chung Under French and Italian laws, companies
can seek and courts can order a ban on sales of a product even before it hits the market.
This in TMVs view is a clear attempt by Samsung to damage sales of Apples iPhone in
selected markets. Much as Apple has done to Samsungs Galaxy 10.1 product in Australia
and Germany. They go further and state that they will also file legal cases regarding patent

breaches for UMTS technology that Apple has refused to pay royalties on since launching
the first iPhone in 2007 in other countries to stop the sale of the iPhone 4S.
On the flip side Apple claims that Samsungs products have slavishly copied Apples iPhone
and iPad products in terms of design along with three other patent breaches. This may well
be the case, but perhaps Apple should take it as a compliment? The irony though is that
whilst Apple is suing Samsung for relatively new products only released in 2011, yet
Samsung states Apple has breached its UMTS patents since 2007.
It seems clear to TMV that both companies have breached each others patents and as such
neither are squeaky clean. As previously stated it is crystal clear that each company is
scared of the other and this is just one battle in what is increasingly looking like a very long
and expensive war, where the consumer loses out and is caught in the crossfire.
Both companies are innovative and should be commended on their innovation.
However, this global battle is hurting the consumer who are customers of each company.
TMV suggests for the benefit of us consumers, that we be allowed to choose which devices
we want to use and not be prevented from making our own democratic choices. Apple has
prevented consumers, myself included from having the opportunity to try the Galaxy 10.1
tablet as they have managed, through the Australian legal system to prevent its launch in
this territory.
TMV would argue that global patent laws need urgent revising so consumer choice the
bastion of western democratic capitalism is not hurt due to large companys whos got the
biggest willy contests. It is now clear that patents are turning into legal obstacles to
innovation, the complete opposite of what they were originally established for.

Recently, Apple sued Samsung for violation of intellectual property rights. Since Samsung was commonly
known as the representative of manufacturers copying Apple, this action roused big issues in and out of
Korea. Then, let's talk about this issue from my point of view.
The parts for which Apple sued are the violation of the property right in the exterior, location of buttons,
and UI/UX design. There will be many arguments, but I think that Samsung had copied Apple. However, I
have a different view on calling it a simple 'violation.' The infringement of patent itself would be a fact, but
since iPhone created the original form of smartphone, they need some consideration for the newcomers.
Currently, all manufacturers of smartphone are using the same smartphone structure, not just Samsung.
And it is difficult to see that it is the product of only one side's unilateral copying. Between Samsung
F700and iPhone that are known to have similar design in UI structure and the design of full-touch
phone, Samsungwas few months faster for introducing the product.
Also, one interesting point is that although Apple could have sued all smartphone manufacturers, it sued
only two companies, HTC and Motorola. Why not sue all but just two companies? Therefore, the point of
attention is not that Samsung was 'sued' by Apple, but 'why' Apple had to sue Samsung?

Galaxy S was truly the smartphone best seller. It was a big hit that it sold three million in Korea and 14
million around the world. Its sales record was # 1 in Samsung, being the moneymaker product. As a
result, in Android OS smartphone category, Samsung's status increased pretty a lot. Even in early last
year, it got pushed by its competitors and became the second to Motorola or HTC. But this year, it grew to
be the front-runner of the Android OS smartphone market. Therefore, I cannot say for sure that Apple is
thinking of Samsung as it competitor, but it is clear that Apple has begun to notice Samsung.

Of course, Samsung has much of Apple's basic structure of smartphone and the original technology of
UI/UX. But when we get in further, things change a bit. There are quite many numbers of patents
that Samsungpossess in the category of communication technology, processor, and storage device.
There has been a prediction that it won't be a hard fight even if Samsung counter-sued Apple regarding
the wireless technology patent, and sure enough, Samsung counter-sued Apple for that just recently. Its
main content is that Apple infringed 10 patents, including the patents on divided transmission of data,
efficiency of transmission, and wireless data communication. For example, Samsung has HSPA
telecommunications technology for transmission optimization and the reduction of power usage during
data transmission,WCDMAtelecommunications technology for reducing date transmission errors, and
technology for tethering a mobile phone to a PC to enable the PC to utilize the phones wireless data
connection.
Moreover, the relationship between Samsung and Apple is a bit strange. This is because, unlike HTC and
all, Samsung is not just a smartphone manufacturer, but it is a company that manufactures important
components of smartphone such as SSD and CCD. Actually, in 2010, Apple purchased 57 billion dollars
of components, becoming the second largest customer of Samsung after Sony. As for Sony, most of the
sales had been from purchasing TV LCD modules through the S-LCD collaboration company, which is
not much, and then Apple is the real big customer and buyer of Samsung. One manufacturer suing its
biggest component supplier for infringement of patentsisn't that interesting? This is the main key of
looking into this case.
Personally, I think that Apple is currently in a stalemate because the perfection of its launched products
are too high. As to speak for Apple's situation, there were many news that the introduction of iPhone
5 would be delayed until September. This might speak for Apple's technological crisis. Also, Apple must
sustain the rational price, as well as the surprising design and innovative technology because that is the
reason that the customers seek Apple. However, as I've told you above, Apple heavily leans
on Samsung for supplying the components. They can do nothing but always sit at a difficult negotiation
table with Samsung. Recently, there has been news that the unit price of Apple would increase according
to the increase of semiconductor price. In order to demonstrate its lead in such negotiation table, Apple
needed the suit it is a quite convincing story.
Just looking at the surface of this case, it might stop at that Samsung is having a hard time regarding the
patent infringement. However, the reality is slightly different. That is why it's interesting. With this event,
Apple might get a better hand in the negotiation with Samsung, and Samsung would gain the image that it
is Apple's competitor. Maybe this will turn out to be a win-win game for two companies.

Not long ago, Samsung's Galaxy S2 was launched, and the reviews from in and out of Korea eulogize it.
Especially, Engadget selected Galaxy S2 as the best smartphone ( Edgadget Link : Samsung Galaxy S II
review ). And Apple is planning to introduce iPhone 5, following after. What ending would these two
competing companies create? I shall watch them with interest.