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Samsung and Google take bite at Apple [Dominion Post (Wellington, New Zealand)](Dominion Post (Wellington, New Zealand) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) SAMSUNG confirmed its legal stoush with Apple Australia will not affect the launch of its latest iPad rival in New Zealand at the same time that Google launched a blistering attack on Apple for attempting to use "bogus patents" to stifle innovation. Apple has filed an injunction to prevent Samsung from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia and demanded it destroy its entire stock of the tablet computers there, claiming the device infringes 10 Apple patents including the "look and feel" and touchscreen technology of the iPad. Samsung said that did not affect any of its tablets or smartphone in New Zealand and it expected to launch the Galaxy Tab 10.1 here soon. Vodafone is expected to begin selling the tablet from mid- month, for $999. Google's chief legal officer David Drummond, who is also Google's senior vice-president, wrote in a blog post that patent wars were pushing up the prices of smartphones and tablets running on its Android software. This was part of a "hostile, organised campaign" being waged by Apple, Microsoft and others to "strangle" Android, which Google provides free of charge. Drummond implied that Microsoft and Apple were getting "into bed together" to stifle Android's success. He said more than 550,000 Android devices were being activated worldwide every day. He said this competition was yielding "cool new devices and amazing mobile apps for consumers". "But Android's success has yielded something else: a hostile, organised campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and other companies, waged through bogus patents." Samsung has agreed not to market the US version of the tablet in Australia but has said it will launch a modified version. It is likely Apple will also seek injunctions preventing the sale of that version. Patent experts claim that Samsung will not be able to modify the tablet sufficiently to avoid infringing Apple's far-reaching patents on multi-touch, gestures, list scrolling and other features. (c) 2011 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |