Samsung has filed suits against Apple in Japan and Australia to stop sales of iPhone 4S, adding to similar complaints in France and Italy.

Apple and Samsung are quickly becoming top rivals in the smartphone business. The increasing demand and prospects of the Samsung devices have led Apple to resort to suing Samsung and seeking to stop sales worldwide. Samsung has responded by seeking a ban on the sales of Apple's iPhone 4S, charging that the iPhones and the iPad 2 have violated the multiple wireless technology patents it holds.

This is part of a wider patent battle that has come up in courts on four continents between the two companies.

Earlier Apple has won a preliminary sales injunction against Samsung in Australia to block the Galaxy Tab 10.1 from hitting the stores. In August, Apple filed an injunction against Samsung in Australia, claiming that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 violated 10 of its patents. Samsung tried to prove that the Australian version of the device would be different from the American one, but the judge once again favored Apple, and now the case will go to trial.

In another case, a U.S. judge has stated that Samsung's Galaxy tablets breach Apple Inc's iPad patents, but added that Apple has a problem establishing the validity of its patents in the latest courtroom face-off between the technology giants.

Earlier this month, Samsung filed motions in France and Italy, citing two patent infringements on wireless telecommunications technology, aiming to prevent the sale of the iPhone 4S.

Smartphone Australia Japan Samsung