Samsung Confirms Filing New Complaint Against Apple

Samsung Electronics on Monday confirmed that it recently filed a new complaint against Apple in France for patents infringement.

Samsung is alleging that its Cupertino-based rival's iPhone and iPad devices infringe on three Samsung-owned patents.

The complaint focuses on three technology patents, and not on the design of the tablets, as was the case in a complaint filed in Germany that Apple won last week, a Samsung spokeswoman told Agence France-Presse.

The suit has its target set Apple's iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G as smartphone models, as well as the iPad and iPad 2.

A source close to the complaint told AFP that this particular patent is concerning UMTS, which is one type of so-called third generation mobile phone technology. The complaint was first filed in July and a preliminary hearing should happen in December.

A Dusseldorf court last week banned Samsung from selling its Galaxy 10.1 Tab in Germany because it looks too much like Apple's iPad 2. But the judges didn't ban sales in other European Union countries as Apple had sought, Presiding Judge Johanna Brueckner-Hofmann said when delivering the verdict, according to Bloomberg.

An embattled Samsung had to pull the new Galaxy Tab out of the IFA consumer-electronics show in Berlin.

Samsung has said it would appeal the decision.

The ruling severely limits consumer choice in Germany and restricts design innovation and progress in the industry, the company said in a statement e-mailed to Bloomberg after the ruling was issued.

Samsung is Apple's closest rival and the legal battle between both companies, in terms of tablet computers, is intensifying at a time when the number of consumers using such devices and smartphones to surf the Web, play games and download music is growing.

The two firms also have legal battles in Australia, the U.S and Asia.

Samsung filed suits of its own in Seoul, asking for a ban on sales of the U.S. firm's products in South Korea.