Korean firm to launch handset on June 21 in spite of Apple’s sales ban request


Samsung Electronics said on Thursday that it will launch its new flagship smartphone Galaxy S3 in the U.S. market this month as scheduled, while its rival Apple Inc. is seeking to impose a sales ban on it.

“We’re going to prove that the new Galaxy S3 is a unique and innovative product developed by Samsung Electronics and we plan to launch the new handset in the U.S. market as scheduled,” said a Samsung official.

The Korean tech behemoth had announced on Wednesday that it will introduce the new 4.8-inch display smartphone through five different mobile carriers ― AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular ― in the U.S. beginning on June 21.

On the same day, Apple filed an infringement case in a California court stating that Samsung’s new handset infringes on two of the company’s patents related to software features and that the gadget should be kept from being sold in the U.S. market.

The event takes place as Apple got its hands on the device when it rolled out in the U.K. on May 29.

“Because the Galaxy S3 contains two of the exact infringing features already at issue with respect to the Galaxy Nexus, the S3 is not more than colorably different from the Galaxy Nexus and falls within the scope of Apple’s current proposed order submitted in connection with its motion for a preliminary injunction,” the company said in the court document.

“Given the extent to which the Galaxy S3 infringes and will cause immediate and irreparable harm to Apple, it is imperative that this court have an opportunity to consider and rule upon Apple’s motion for a preliminary injunction before the Galaxy S3 is launched in the U.S.”

Samsung has reportedly taken more than nine million preorders of the handset.

With the motion in place, Apple is expected to make similar requests against Samsung’s new flagship handset at courts in other countries.

The move indicates that Apple and Samsung’s court battle involving patents is still ongoing even after the chief executives of both firms sat down for negotiation talks in San Francisco last month.

With both sides keeping mum about the results of the 16-hour talk, the two companies have apparently refused to back down on the case.

Shortly after the meeting, however, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook publicly said that the system for enforcing standards-essential patents is “broken” and that patent disputes with other companies are a “pain in the ass” which he wishes did not exist.

Cook also said he was unwilling to let Apple’s work be copied by others, stressing that other companies should build their own products so Apple does not become “the developer for the rest of the world.”

Samsung, on the other hand, is also planning to maintain its firm stance in regards to the patents issue, pushing forward with securing intellectual rights focused on telecommunications technologies.

As is procedure, the two IT giants will go to the U.S. International Trade Commission for infringement cases filed by both sides and then attend another court session in San Jose in late July.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)