Apple seeks US ban on new Samsung phone

Seoul/San Francisco: Apple Inc.sought to block sales of Samsung Electronics Co.’s latest Galaxy smartphones in the US, deepening their worldwide patent dispute and raising pressure on the maker of the biggest iPhone competitor.

Apple asked a federal judge in San Jose, California, to include the Galaxy S III in its request to block sales of Samsung products in the US, according to a 5 June filing by the Cupertino, California-based company. The Samsung phone will go on sale in the US this month after the UK release in May, Apple said.

The filing reflects the failure of court-ordered talks between Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook and his Samsung counterpart Choi Gee-sung last month. The world’s two biggest makers of high-end phones have accused each other of copying designs and technology for mobile devices and are fighting patent battles in four continents to retain their dominance in the $219 billion global smartphone market.

“I don’t think Apple will succeed,” James Song, a Seoul- based analyst at Daewoo Securities Co., said by phone. “Smartphones aren’t uniquely Apple’s products any more. It won’t be easy to find convincing reasons to block sales.”

“Apple’s request is without merit and Samsung will start selling the Galaxy S III in the US as planned,” the Suwon, South Korea-based company said in a statement on Thursday. “Samsung was set to release the model in the US through five carriers,” Chris Chung, a Seoul-based spokesman for the company said by phone, declining to say when sales were scheduled to begin.

Samsung released the Galaxy S III in the UK on 29 May and US carriers have announced they will start selling the phone in the US on 21 June, Apple said in the filing, saying it obtained the product in the UK.

Apple determined that this device clearly infringes at least two of the Apple patents at issue for the exact same reasons it infringes earlier versions of the smartphone.

Susan Decker in Washington contributed to this story.

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