Samsung guns for Europe fight

Korean firm to stress consumer rights against Apple

Samsung is focusing efforts on winning patent battles with Apple in Europe to regain the upper hand in the technology legal dispute of the century, which took a new turn Friday after a court in Japan reached a verdict in favor of the Korean company.

It sees the upcoming trial in Netherlands “more than crucial” because it believes that the outcome will set the tone for a series of trials that will follow in Europe. Samsung confirmed Monday that the Hague court will review an appeal by the Cupertino-headquartered Apple on Sept. 7.

“Samsung still believes Apple is still limiting consumer choice and we plan to emphasize this in the Netherlands,’’ said an official over the telephone.

“The situation is not looking good for Samsung as Apple put our strategic Galaxy S3 smartphones on its sales ban list in the United States, though chances are low for U.S. federal Judge Lucy Koh to order Samsung to stop selling the S3, there. But Europe is the market in which Samsung has been doing well in. We will defend our interests,’’ said the official.

The Hague court previously ordered Apple to pay damages over a patent infringement in some of its i-devices in the Netherlands.

Specifically, the case hinged on Apple’s use of Intel and Infineon baseband chips in old-fashioned iPhone 3G, 3GS and four models without paying a license fee to Samsung.

Despite the patent dispute, Samsung is stamping its authority as the major handset maker in Europe, according to market research firms.

According to the latest sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, the Suwon, Gyeonggi Province-based company is the top seller of smartphones with 45 percent across the whole of Europe.

“Samsung’s domination was driven by the launch of the S3. The top-selling smartphone that has helped improve Andriod’s share in five major European markets ― the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain ― to 65.7 percent as of the end of July this year from 42.7 percent last year,’’ said the market research firm. Apple only took 16 percent of all sales.

“Samsung cautiously thinks we are better-positioned to block Apple’s attack in Europe because it is giving greater value to mobile technologies, at which we are far better than Apple,’’ said another Samsung official.

Unlike in the United States, rulings are mixed or somewhat favorable for Samsung. A court in the United Kingdom ordered Apple to run advertisements in major British papers stating that Samsung didn’t copy Apple.

Also, a court in Dusseldorf in Germany ruled Samsung’s modified Galaxy tablet ― the Galaxy Tab 10.1N ― didn’t infringe on any Apple patents.

From January to May this year, a court in Mannheim in the same country favored Samsung by dismissing three cases filed by Apple, while delaying a ruling in four out of six cases.

In Italy and France, Samsung sued Apple for infringing on company-owned mobile patents. Late last year, the courts refused to accept that Apple iPhone 4S copied telecom patents.

“There are rumors that Samsung is nevertheless looking at Europe as a priority region for standard essential patents (SEPs) enforcement against the iPhone 5,’’ said Florian Mueller, a German-based patent expert.

Mueller expects Samsung could try to put pressure on retailers, but said; “That’s difficult to do and could affect its own sales.’’

But in the United Kingdom, where Samsung received a favorable ruling, Mueller said it’s generally very hard to win patent injunctions.

“Most patent assertions don’t even result in a finding of liability because the High Court of England and Wales tends to consider more patents invalid than its counterparts in other European countries and also takes a conservative position on infringement questions. Even if there is liability, there still isn’t necessarily an injunction,’’ Mueller said. <The Korea Times/Kim Yoo-chul>

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