Samsung Officially Adds iPhone 5 to Lawsuit; Also Galaxy Tab 10.1 Sales Ban Lifted

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It looks like we might be seeing the first inklings of a "turnaround" in the patent wars for Samsung against Apple. At the very list, Samsung is striking back, and developing their strategy. First, in a fairly surprising move, Judge Lucy Koh reversed her own earlier decision and lifted the sales ban against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Before the trial in California that shocked the tech world even began, Judge Koh had ruled it was likely that a Jury would find that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 copied the iPad, so she preemptively banned the device.

As it turns out, the jury did not agree with her assessment and didn't include the G-Tab 10.1 on their list of infringing devices. After the trial, Samsung appealed to a higher court to lift the sales ban. This court kicked it back down to Judge Koh. She just lifted the sales ban late yesterday on the device. Additionally, it is possible that Samsung could get Apple to pay up $2.6 Million dollars for lost revenue of the product while it was banned. Sadly, that is a paltry sum compared to the $1.05 Billion dollar verdict that Samsung was saddled with from the loss in the California court vs. Apple.

Luckily, Samsung's newest strategy just went official today as well. Previously we reported that Samsung intended to add the iPhone 5 to their lawsuits against Apple infringing on LTE patents. That is now official, as Samsung added the phone to their legal case. Samsung claims that the iPhone 5 infringes two standards patents and six features patents.

Unfortunately, it will be some time for this new strategy to bear any fruit for Samsung. Their court date for the case isn't until 2014. That's a long time to wait, and several more product launches later for Apple. Still, Sammy is defending themselves in the only way left to them now. Here's a quote from the company,

“We have always preferred to compete in the marketplace with our innovative products, rather than in courtrooms. However, Apple continues to take aggressive legal measures that will limit market competition. Under these circumstances, we have little choice but to take the steps necessary to protect our innovations and intellectual property rights,” Samsung said in a statement.

Source: AndroidAuthority