Samsung Electronics Co. said it will try to stop the sale of Apple Inc.'s iPhone 4S in France and Italy, aiming to use publicity over the device's introduction as leverage against Apple in a broader fight over the design of smartphones and tablet computers.
Samsung, which is competing with Apple for the lead in smartphone sales, is trying to gain an upper hand in a legal battle that started in April when Apple accused the South Korean company of copying key design elements.
Taking advantage of the world-wide attention for the new iPhone, Samsung said Wednesday that it had filed cases against Apple in the two European countries. A Samsung spokesman said it chose France and Italy because they are "key markets" in Europe, citing also "the local legal system and processes."
"It is no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad," an Apple spokesman said, "from the shape of the hardware, to the user interface and even the packaging. This kind of blatant copying is wrong and we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas."
Courts in Germany and the Netherlands have temporarily halted sales of Samsung smartphones and tablets pending hearings on patent-infringement claims. Courts in Australia and the U.S. next week are expected to decide on other Apple claims for injunctions against Samsung products.
Samsung said that in France and Italy it will accuse Apple of infringing on three Samsung patents used in third-generation transmission technology. The statement called Apple's infringement "too severe" and added "iPhone 4S should be barred from sales."
The Samsung spokesman said the company contributed the patents to an international body that standardized 3G technology. By doing so, Samsung agreed to license the patents to any competitor, including Apple, on a fair and reasonable basis. By seeking the injunctions, Samsung is claiming that Apple didn't access the standards pool properly.
Throughout the two companies' litigation, Samsung has been pressing courts to decide whether standards patents can be used to force a competitor to give up rights stemming from more-proprietary patents, which haven't been contributed to standards pools.
The strategy raises the prospect that courts will change the whole process of setting standards in the technology industry. "Preliminary injunctions based on standards-essential patents would create uncertainty throughout the tech sector," said Florian Mueller, a German consultant on intellectual property.
In France, Samsung said it would challenge Apple on patents that cover the encoding of a signal-transmission format and a method for correcting encoding errors. In Italy, Samsung said it would challenge over patents on the signal-transmission format and a method for bundling low bursts of data into more-efficient transmission.
Apple on Tuesday said it would make the new iPhone 4S available on Oct. 14 in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the U.K. Apple said it plans to sell the phone in 22 more countries, including Italy and most of Europe, by the end of this month.
Apple led the world by shipping 20.3 million smartphones in the second quarter, while Samsung shipped 19.6 million. Samsung likely passed Apple in the third quarter as the Korean company ramped up sales of its flagship Galaxy S II smartphone, unveiled in April, and the iPhone's growth likely leveled off as consumers awaited the new model.
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