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Its high-profile legal loss to Apple over the weekend could be just the beginning of the problems for Samsung.
Apple has now file papers with the US courts in a bid to pull eight Samsung smartphone handsets from sale in the US, including the Galaxy Prevail and a number of Galaxy S II and Galaxy S models.
It has also requested a preliminary ban on sales of the tablet PC Galaxy Tab 10.1.
Fortunately for Samsung the list does not include its most recent launch the Galaxy S3.
Apple’s move comes after US courts ordered Samsung to pay Apple in the region of 665m in damages over the weekend after a year-long legal tussle. A US jury decided that Samsung had violated a number of Apple’s software and hardware patents, marking what is being seen as one of the most significant patent rulings in global legal history.
Apple had sought $2.75bn in damages.
Speaking in an internal memo to staff, Samsung management claimed that it had tried to reach an out of court settlement with Apple, only for its rival to rebuff any proposed agreement.
We initially proposed to negotiate with Apple instead of going to court, as they had been one of our most important customers,” it reads. However, Apple pressed on with a lawsuit, and we have had little choice but to counter-sue, so that we can protect our company.
History has shown there has yet to be a company that has won the hearts and minds of consumers and achieved continuous growth, when its primary means to competition has been the outright abuse of patent law, not the pursuit of innovation.
We trust that the consumers and the market will side with those who prioritize innovation over litigation, and we will prove this beyond doubt.”
A large number of commentators are dubbing the result as a bigger blow for Google than it is for Samsung, as the ramifications for its mobile operating system Android are huge.
As for Samsung, it will live to fight another day – and in truth, its perhaps the only smartphone manufacturer in the world big enough and rich enough to survive an ordeal such as this.
