Apple informed U.S. Federal Court Judge Lucy Koh late on Monday that it wants to add the Galaxy S4 smartphone to its patent infringement case against Samsung. With a 22 product limit imposed on each company by the Judge, however, that means Apple will have to drop one of the devices it has already targeted in its complaint.
Apple wants to add Samsung's Galaxy S4 to its patent infringement fight
Apple said in its filing that it "has concluded that it is an infringing device and accordingly intends to move for leave to add the Galaxy S4 as an infringing product," according to FOSS Patents.
Apple and Samsung are set to square off in court on spring 2014 over allegations that they are using each other's mobile device patents without proper licensing. Apple won a similar case in August 2012 when a Jury ruled Samsung infringed on a long list of the company's patents and awarded Apple over US$1 billion in damages. Judge Koh later thew out part of that damages ruling and set a court date for this fall to redetermine what the monetary award should be since the Jury improperly calculated the amount.
This new trial mirrors last year's, but targets new products like the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3 smartphones, and it Apple gets its way, the Galaxy S4.
Apple and Samsung are also fighting over what constitues a unique product for the 22 device limit. Samsung said that the software it installs for different carriers is unique enough that the same device counts as unique products, while Apple is arguing that a specific smartphone model counts as a single device regardless of what software is installed.
When asked Samsung to identify the differences that make a smartphone model a different product based on software, the company refused, according to Apple's filing.
The current list of Samsung devices Apple is targeting in this patent infringement case includes the Admire, Captivate Glide, Conquer 4G, Dart, Exhibit II 4G, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 10.1, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy Player 4.0, Galaxy Player 5.0, Galaxy Rugby Pro, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, Galaxy S II Skyrocket, Galaxy S III, Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, Galaxy Tab 8.9, Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, Illusion, Stratosphere, and Transform Ultra.
Samsung is going after the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad mini, iPod Touch (3rd, 4th and 5th generation), MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro, iTunes (including iTunes Match), iCloud, and the first and third generation Apple TV.
Judge Koh hasn't ruled yet on whether or not Apple can include the Galaxy S4 in its complaint. If she rules in Apple's favor one of the devices that's already on the list will drop off.