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Apple adds Android 4.1, Galaxy Note 10.1 to Samsung lawsuit

It's an indication that Apple may be directly taking on Google, which created the Android operating system.

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Roger Cheng (he/him/his) was the executive editor in charge of CNET News, managing everything from daily breaking news to in-depth investigative packages. Prior to this, he was on the telecommunications beat and wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal for nearly a decade and got his start writing and laying out pages at a local paper in Southern California. He's a devoted Trojan alum and thinks sleep is the perfect -- if unattainable -- hobby for a parent.
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Roger Cheng
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Hugo Bara, Android's director of product management, said the Jelly Bean statue is back on Google's lawn as he announced 500 million device activations.
Hugo Bara, Android's director of product management, said the Jelly Bean statue is back on Google's lawn as he announced 500 million device activations. Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET

Apple appears ready to fire its legal salvo directly at Google.

In a move that could draw Google into the fray, Apple attempted to add Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Note 10.1 and Google's Android 4.1, also known as Jelly Bean, to an existing complaint against Samsung in California.

Apple made the argument to U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal today in San Jose, Calif., Bloomberg reported.

The move followed Samsung's own action to add the iPhone 5 to its own counter-claim that Apple infringed on its patents.

The ongoing complaints show that the massively complex legal battle between Apple and Samsung is nowhere near over, despite a seemingly crippling defeat in the form of a $1.05 billion jury verdict handed to Samsung in August. That case, which dealt more with design patents, is separate from the current software-centric case involving the Galaxy Note 10.1 and Jelly Bean.

Apple had won the initial judgement, but Samsung appealed the decision and the case doesn't go on trial until 2014. While Apple initially listed a few features of Android, the company has opted to get more aggressive and call out the Android operating system specifically.

A Google representative declined to comment.

CNET contacted Apple and Samsung for comment, and we'll update the story when they respond.

Because the complaint dealt with software and user interface patents, Google was already expected to play a bigger role in the proceedings than in previous trials. But by naming the operating system, Apple may have triggered a much larger presence from Google, even if the company isn't actually named in the lawsuit.