They’re at it again folks, and it only gets uglier and uglier. Samsung has filed another complaint against Apple, according to the International Trade Commission website, this time to request an import ban against the iPhone, iPad, and iPod. Should the ITC choose to investigate the complaint, we won’t get a final decision for at least 16 months.
This is only the latest in a series of back-and-forth nastiness between the two tech beasts. Apple started it, filing a complaint in April over “slavishly copied” Samsung products, but Samsung is certainly doing its best to finish it. With every move Apple makes, Samsung is there with a counter-attack. Obviously, after Apple’s initial complaint, Samsung counter-sued citing patent infringement and things only escalated from there.
Shortly after, the two submitted requests to get early previews of the others’ products, although Samsung’s request was certainly overreaching, at best. Just last week, Apple filed a suit on Samsung’s home turf of South Korea, and now reports are coming out claiming that Apple is dumping Samsung as a chip maker, opting for Taiwan SemiConductor Manufacturing Company.
If those reports are in fact true, this would definitely signal a break-up between the long-time partners. Apple is one of Samsung’s largest customers, but when weighed against the opportunity to be a super successful consumer brand in the mobile arena, being a component supplier for Apple doesn’t quite cut it for Samsung. Following the same logic, Apple would much rather protect its intellectual property than get hung up in supply chain issues.
[via FOSS Patents]
