Posted by Greg Mills
The Apple lawsuit against Samsung has taken an interesting turn late thursday, suggesting Samsung is getting ready to settle with Apple, behind the scenes. Samsung has just withdrawn its counter-suit against Apple.
Apple sued Samsung for stealing the look and feel of both the iPhone and iPad devices and operating user interface features. Indeed, the pictures of Apple iPhones along side Samsungs recent Android handset products are so similar it is hard to tell them apart. There are numerous patents Apple cited in their suit, including obvious unique design elements that Samsung illegally copied, “lavishly”.
Just in the last few weeks the first of a number of patent infringement lawsuits filed by Apple against every Android handset maker has begun to work through the courts and trade commissions. Samsung was perhaps the most bold of the copycats, but not the last one in Apple’s sights. Stay tuned!
Apple recently forced Samsung to submit its unreleased Android cellular products for Apple’s lawyers to examine and then Samsung tried to turn the tables on Apple, without success. Samsung used the most common of all defenses when you are sued, they counter sued. Now the reality is that Samsung sees the handwriting on the wall and wants to settle with Apple. Withdrawing the counter suits is the first step.
The chances of Apple licensing the look and feel of the iPhone and iPad, along with the underlying technology is just not in the cards. Samsung will eat billions of dollars of new products they can’t legally sell anywhere but Mars and will likely get out of the Android handset market. The recently released Samsung tablet Galaxy Tab and smartphones just coming out, may be suddenly withdrawn from the market. Samsung is in deep trouble.
Will Samsung keep Apple as a customer for electronic parts? That is hard to say, as Apple may already be planning to move its propriatary A5 microprocessing manufacturing business to another vendor. When Steve Jobs is ticked off, he tends to punish someone.