The legal battles between Samsung and Apple continue and in a latest development, the iPhone 5, Galaxy Note 10.1 and the S III have been added to the list of infringing products. Samsung asked the court to add the iPhone 5 when it released in September claiming that it infringed on Samsung’s patents while Apple countered this move by adding the Galaxy Note 10.1 to the list, as well as the S III for good measure.
Apple recently won a one billion damages order against Samsung in a lawsuit which the latter unsuccessfully appealed to have reversed on the ground of jury misconduct. Apple has also earlier successfully convinced Judge Koh to ban the sales of Galaxy Nexus. This order, however was overturned in October as the suit was held to still be in discovery phase. The suit involved both parties accusing each other of infringing eight of their respective patents and the deadlock between the two has intensified as each company works toward building a stronger case against the other.
In the current case, Apple attempted to exert control over Android Jellybean but was met with disapproval from Judge Grewal, who he pointed out that Jellybean was owned by Google, not Samsung, and refused to give it permission to demand changes to any software or hardware not directly associated with Samsung. The court also made it explicitly clear to all present that Apple had been given plenty of notice to investigate Samsung’s claims of its denial of the request made regarding the iPhone 5. While Apple may have lost a few points in this recent case, the infringing devices on the list are yet to be evaluated and may be held to be infringing Apple’s patents.
Apple and Samsung have both made strong cases against each other and it seems that the deadlock is set to continue with the additions in the list of infringing devices. On the other hand, Google will probably be relieved that the Android OS is unlikely to be targeted by Apple in its numerous tiffs with Android manufacturers across the world. One can only wonder what, or even when, the final outcome of the legal war between Samsung and Apple will be decided.
