If you thought the patent wars were over between Samsung and Apple, Google and Apple, or any other combination of tech firms that are claiming competitors have stolen their hard work and intellectual property, you’d be wrong. Apparently. In a new report published today over at Foss Patents, it’s being stated that Samsung’s South Korean rival, LG, is joining HTC in fighting alongside Google backed Samsung against Apple over a patent infringement case that if landing in Apple’s favor, would see allegedly and accused infringing devices pulled from shelves as part of a sales ban.
While the case has technically already been awarded to Apple as of last year and Samsung was reported to potentially be paying them in the amount of $930 million,(the amount that Apple was seeking for over the allegedly infringing products from Samsung in addition to the sales ban)it appears that the U.S Court of Appeals has brought both of these companies back together for a round of questioning from Judge Lucy Koh who presided over the entire case since it began. Part of the goal as it would appear is to determine whether or not Apple deserves the full amount of the $930 million or if they should get a lower sum. Last year Judge Koh denied the injunction Apple was seeking in the California patent case to ban the sales of certain Samsung devices, and Apple is appealing that decision now claiming they have evidence that could better support their request to ban specific Samsung products.
Samsung remains insistent that the infringements on Apple’s patents didn’t hurt their bottom line sales, and that they have no way to tie those infringements to such results. It wouldn’t surprise that Google agrees with Samsung on this matter since they have stated they’d be backing Samsung throughout the court case. In attempting to bring in LG and HTC by way of an amicus curiae brief(which if granted, allows the newly included parties to bring relevant information to the case that have not previously been called upon by anyone actually involved in the case)Samsung will be gaining support from two fairly big smartphone manufacturers who also develop Android based devices, despite being direct competitors to Samsung. How this plays out is anyone’s guess, now can everyone just get back to creating cool technological products?