Apple, Samsung Patent Clash Expands To iPad mini, iPad 4, New iPod touch

Samsung Electronics has alleged that three recent products from Apple, including the iPad mini, infringe on its patents.

The South Korean company said in a filing Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose division, that the products were released by Apple after Samsung submitted its original infringement contentions on June 15, and a motion to supplement on Oct. 1 that added the iPhone 5 to products that allegedly infringe its patents.

The products included in the latest motion to amend and supplement the infringement contentions are the iPad mini and the latest versions of the iPad and iPod touch.

Samsung has also asked for clarification from the court if its original contentions properly allege infringement of U.S. Patent No. 7,672,470 by three prior generations of the iPod touch, and alternatively asks leave to add these products to its infringement contentions.

[quote]On Wednesday, Samsung’s chief executive Shin Jong-kyun told The Korean Times: “Without Samsung-owned wireless patents, it’s impossible for… Apple to produce its handsets.”[/quote]

Samsung and Apple are no strangers to court battles, having been engaged in vicious patent battle that extends across four continents since April 2011. Back in August, a court awarded Apple over $1 billion in damages after upholding claims that Samsung had infringing several iPhone and iPad patents with its Galaxy S-series smartphones. Samsung has since appealed against the ruling.

But it hasn’t all been going Apple’s way, with courts in the Netherlands, the U.K. and Japan dismissing Apple’s claims of infringement by Samsung.