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Report: Apple takes aim at Samsung in South Korea

So far, it's unclear what the patent infringement lawsuit covers; it may even be a continuation of Apple's already-filed patent suit against Samsung.

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Don Reisinger
2 min read

Apple has filed a patent-related lawsuit against Samsung in South Korea, Bloomberg is reporting.

According to the report, Apple filed the suit in the Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday. Since details on Apple's claims were not made public, the company's lawsuit could be entirely new or relate to the earlier suit it launched against Samsung.

In April, Apple sued Samsung for allegedly infringing its patents on its mobile devices. AllThingsD reported at the time that Apple was charging Samsung with "copying" its user interface and product designs.

"It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging," an Apple representative told AllThingsD at the time. "This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas."

Samsung quickly returned fire on Apple and filed a patent-infringement suit in April in the Seoul Central District Court, alleging that Apple violated Samsung patents related to HSPA and WCDMA telecommunications technology, among others. Samsung followed that suit with another filing in the U.S. in April, alleging that Apple violated 10 of its patents.

Apple responded earlier this month with an amended complaint, saying that Samsung's alleged infringement went further than the company had initially realized.

"[Samsung's] products...blatantly imitate the appearance of Apple's products to capitalize on Apple's success," Apple said in its amended complaint, which spanned 63 pages, up from 38. "The copying has been widely observed in the industry and has been mentioned in multiple articles reviewing Samsung products."

The latest development in the case occurred earlier this week when a judge struck down Samsung's request to see unreleased Apple products.

Though Apple hasn't said publicly whether its latest filing in South Korea relates to its ongoing battle with Samsung or is something new, Samsung told Bloomberg in a statement that it will "continue to actively defend and protect our intellectual property."

Apple did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment.

Further reading: A brief history of Apple's mobile-tech patent battles