Samsung: Sorry It Took So Long to Sue Over iPhone 5. We Had to Wait in Line to Buy One.
Samsung has finally made good on its threat to sue Apple over the iPhone 5. On Tuesday morning, the company accused Apple of infringing its patents with the device, adding claims about it to an existing lawsuit between the two companies.
In an amendment to a lawsuit it originally filed in April, Samsung alleges the iPhone 5 violates the same eight patents allegedly infringed by the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch, iPad 2 and the new iPad.
“Because the iPhone 5 has the same accused functionality as the previously accused versions of the iPhone, Samsung seeks, with its proposed amendment, to add the iPhone 5 as an accused device that infringes Samsung’s two UMTS standards patents and six feature patents at issue,” Samsung said in its filing. “The iPhone 5 has the same accused functionality as the previously accused versions of the iPhone, so the proof of infringement of the patents-in-suit by the iPhone 5 is the same as for other Apple devices already accused of infringement in this litigation.”
The case to which Samsung proposes to add the iPhone 5 claims is scheduled for trial in March 2013. It follows a sweeping courtroom loss in September that saw the company slapped with $1 billion in damages for infringing Apple’s patents.
Apple declined comment on Samsung’s amendment. Samsung, for its part, said Apple has forced its hand.
“We have always preferred to compete in the marketplace with our innovative products, rather than in a courtroom,” a company spokesman told AllThingsD. “However, Apple continues to take aggressive legal action that will restrict market competition. Under these circumstances, we have little recourse but to take the steps necessary to protect our innovations and intellectual property rights.”