Here we go again: another phone from Samsung brings another claim of patent infringement from Apple. While the issue Apple has with the Galaxy S4 is essentially the same as they had with the Samsung Galaxy S III and only required an amendment to the existing claim, this amasses a total of 5 direct patent infringement notices against the Galaxy S4. The technical details of the actual patents are quite in-depth but basically breaks down to behaviour of the device with swipe gestures and software setups.
What has intrigued a number of tech journo’s and legally minded individuals is the fact that the latest amendment includes the Google Now application on the Galaxy S4 which is, to date, the closest Apple have gone to having a direct swipe at Google themselves. The unified search function inside Google Now is what Apple have taken exception to, so it will be interesting to see how this one pans out. Surely Google will have some search patents in their bag of tricks to offensively protect themselves from Apple’s continued claims.
While the outcome is without doubt months, potentially years down the track it’s going to be interesting reading during the trial.
Does Samsung have a case to answer? Will Apple take on Google nose to nose? Have you simply had enough of these patent wars? Let us know in the comments below.
