iPhone lawsuit heats up, as Samsung counter sues Apple

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iPhone lawsuit heats up, as Samsung counter sues Apple

iPhone lawsuit started with Apple suing Samsung. Now the Korea company is fighting back with its own iPhone lawsuit.

JL/Sipa Press/Newscom

An iPhone lawsuit from Apple says the Samsung Galaxy, pictured, borrows too much from the iPhone. A new lawsuit from Samsung says Apple stole ideas from it.

By Dean Takahashi Venture Beat

April 22, 2011, 1:50 p.m. ET

Samsung Electronics has against Apple in South Korea, Japan and Germany, responding to last week鈥檚 lawsuit from Apple about how Samsung鈥檚 smartphones and tablets copied Apple鈥檚 products.

Samsung said that Apple infringes five patents, but didn鈥檛 specify the technologies involved. The stakes are high and the litigation is just one among a number of companies jockeying to become the ultimate power in smartphones. Other lawsuits involve Apple against Nokia and HTC, Microsoft against Motorola, and Google against Oracle.

鈥淪amsung is responding actively to the legal action taken against us in order to protect our intellectual property and to ensure our continued innovation and growth in the mobile communications business,鈥� the statement said.

alleging Samsung violated patents and trademarks of its iPhone and iPad. Tim Cook, chief operating officer at Apple, said during Apple鈥檚 earnings call that Samsung鈥檚 mobile division 鈥渃rossed a line.鈥� He said Apple is Samsung鈥檚 biggest customer and will continue to be so. But the companies discussed the matter for some time and Apple decided to take it to the courts, Cook said.

Apple鈥檚 iPhone has taken off in a big way, with more than 18.65 million units sold in the first quarter. It鈥檚 not clear how many of the Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab devices Samsung has sold. But Samsung is one of the leaders in the market for devices based on Google鈥檚 Android operating system. It鈥檚 no accident that Apple is going after Samsung in that respect.