Apple Targets Samsung With New Lawsuit Over 'Galaxy' Line

133658 galaxy tab 10 1 revised 500
Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has filed a patent lawsuit against Samsung, targeting the Korean company's "Galaxy" line of Android-based smartphones and tablets.

The lawsuit, filed on April 15 in the Northern District of California, alleged that Samsung's smartphones, such as the "Galaxy S 4G," "Epic 4G," "Nexus S" and its "Galaxy Tab" touchscreen tablet, violated Apple's intellectual property.

"Rather than innovate and develop its own technology and a unique Samsung style for its smart phone products and computer tablets, Samsung chose to copy Apple's technology, user interface and innovative style in these infringing products," the lawsuit said.

Samsung is one of Apple's chief suppliers for its own iOS-based devices, with Samsung manufacturing Apple's A4 and A5 systems-on-a-chip as well as LCD displays, flash memory, and other components.

Samsung is one the companies pushing ahead most aggressively in the tablet market to compete against Apple's iPad, having already released a 7-inch "Galaxy Tab" and announced larger 8.9-inch and 10.1-inch versions set to launch within the next few months. The company is of course also a major player in the Android-based smartphone market.

Update: All Things Digital has posted a few images from the lawsuit, a number of which show side-by-side comparisons between Apple's and Samsung's devices.

165102 iphone galaxy comparison

Popular Stories

2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Changes Trade-In Values for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and More

Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website. Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50. We have outlined some examples below: Device New Value Old Value iPhone 15 Pro Max Up to $630 U ...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.3 Beta 3

Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features. Notification Summary Changes Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines. For...
2024 App Store Awards

Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 1 Redux

'iPhone 17 Air' Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Wednesday January 15, 2025 7:16 am PST by
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the "ultra-thin" device. Overall, the "iPhone 17 Air" is shaping up to be a mixed bag. Due to its thinness, the device is expected to have some limited specifications compared to the iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, only a single speaker, no SIM...
iPad Pro vs iPhone 17 Air Feature

Here's How Thin the iPhone 17 Air Might Be

Friday January 17, 2025 3:38 pm PST by
For the last several months, we've been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 "Air," or something along those lines. It's going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple's fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple Expected to Launch 20+ Products This Year: Here's the Full List

Friday January 17, 2025 5:30 am PST by
2025 promises to be quite a big year for Apple, with the company rumored to be planning more than 20 product announcements this year. Apple's rumored smart home hub will be its second all-new product to launch in as many years, following the Apple Vision Pro headset last year. And of course, we will get several new iPhone and Apple Watch models, like every year. Beyond that, Apple could...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Horizontal Single Feature

iPhone 17 Rumored to Feature Major Thermal Design Upgrade

Friday January 17, 2025 4:33 am PST by
The iPhone 17 lineup will feature a vapor chamber heatsink to improve thermal performance, according to a new report. The news comes from Chinese tech news site MyDrivers, which claims that the entire iPhone 17 lineup, consisting of the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max, will adopt the improved thermal heat spreader. Vapor chamber technology is already used...

Top Rated Comments

MickyDees Avatar
180 months ago
I guess I can see Apple's point. But, aren't all tablets going to have a similar style and interface? It would seem like there can be only marginal differences in a touch screen interface.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gnasher729 Avatar
179 months ago
The first of apple lawsuits seems to go against apple :

HTC and Nokia score legal win against Apple

http://www.rethink-wireless.com/2011/04/20/htc-nokia-score-legal-win-against-apple.htm

Lets hope apple puts a bit more effort into iOS 5 and the iphone 5 and not in inventing legal charges against its competitors.
Well, that would be a good story, except that you left out half the facts.

Nokia sued Apple first. They started a court case about patents, which takes ages and ages, and they started a separate action against Apple to stop Apple from importing iPhones into the USA. That second kind of action is one that is very rarely successful. The next step was that obviously Apple countersued Nokia for patent infringement, and Apple took the same separate action against Nokia to stop them from importing Nokia phones into the USA. Nokia's attempt to stop Apple from importing iPhones into the USA was rejected a few months ago, quite predictably, and Apple's attempt to stop Nokia from importing phones into the USA was rejected just now, equally predictable.

The real action there is the case of Nokia against Apple. Apple against Nokia is just an unimportant (to Apple) side show; equally unimportant are both parties' attempts to stop imports.


You dont design a phone in weeks
You don't design a phone in weeks, but it is quite easy to show something that looks quite similar to an iPhone only weeks after seeing an iPhone for the first time. Compare the times between the first model shown and the actual phone released: iPhone was shown in January, released in April. Samsung phone was shown in February, released in November. Nine months vs. three months. A very clear indication that Samsung's phone was nowhere near the level of completed development that the iPhone was.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tinman0 Avatar
179 months ago
"Silly" being the operative word here.

Not at all.

Some of you guys really don't understand how important design is.

For instance, I have a very distinctive modern retro look car, but if a Chinese company were to copy it and start selling it, all hell would break lose. Companies don't invest large amounts of money designing something and then marketing it at huge cost, for someone to come along and copy the bits they like and chuck it out at much less cost.

Companies need protection from each other to stop designs and inventions being ripped off.

What is so difficult to understand about that?

Samsung are going to have their arse handed to them over the Apple lawsuit, and not only are Apple going to be able to show that Samsung copies their designs, but that Samsung copies everyones design.

So forget the question of whether the icon has square or round edges, Samsung are going to be shown as a company that respects no one, let alone Apple.

What would be interesting is whether anyone else files a similar suit, especially Nokia, now that Apple have got started.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmaier Avatar
180 months ago
Yes, some Android device it have it. It has been previewed and even talked about in the Android community, as unimpressive as they are.
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2011/03/15/netflix-for-android-app-hijacked-from-the-lg-revolution/

A stolen app that doesn't actually stream anything is not "having it."
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
maclaptop Avatar
179 months ago
If you drive down the street you see millions of cars that look very much alike, but car makers don't waste time suing each other over style similarities because they can rely on the performance specifics of their cars, and the buyers will compare and choose what's best for them.

Apple must be very worried about the slew of tablets coming out and it knows that its window of dominance is closing.
They are afraid of the competition.
You are absolutely correct, Apple is indeed very afraid of the competition.

They are deathly afraid of Android, for it they weren't, their legions of followers would not post the thousands of posts on this forum, bashing anything and everything about Android.

If Android was to go away tomorrow, they would go into shock, and be desperately seeking something else to take out their anger and issues on.

Never Happy, Apple is launching lawsuits left and right.

Fan-boys and Apple apologists are standing behind them with every excuse in the book, and at the end of the day they all relish the chaos.

Apple loves headlines, their users money, the power and control they have cultivated over the New York Times, and the legions of non thinking drones that worship Steve.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kdarling Avatar
180 months ago
Carmakers sue each other all the time, for things as silly as the number of slits in the front grill.

Ha! Jeep vs Hummer?

And Jeep lost, partly because even though many people did show confusion between the two brands, the actual buyers themselves did not.

Of course, it also helped that the court ruled that GM had no intention of causing confusion. Not sure that Samsung would get away with that.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)