Samsung to take stronger stance in fight with Apple

Samsung Electronics is expected to take a stronger stance in its patent battle against U.S. software giant Apple Inc. as its chairman Lee Kun-hee urged management to make the “right” moves.

Lee on Tuesday told company executive Choi Gee-sung, head of the group’s strategic office, to “take the appropriate actions” after being briefed about the current situation.

“Chairman Lee does not get briefed too frequently about the patent fight with Apple but we believe we will take a more firm stance against Apple following the jury verdict in the U.S.,” said a Samsung executive.

This also comes in line with Samsung’s previous statement that it will fight last week’s jury verdict at a San Jose court which claimed Samsung had infringed on Apple’s design-related patents.

In a related move, the world’s top smartphone maker plans to file a formal objection to Apple’s move to put eight of Samsung products, including the Galaxy S, on a sales ban in the U.S.

With the U.S. court scheduled to hold a hearing on the issue on Sept. 20, the Suwon-based firm will actively post questions over the fairness of the jury verdict.

Such actions are being taken as the judge’s final ruling over the Samsung-Apple patent case has yet to be announced.

On top of fighting the jury verdict, Samsung is looking into whether Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 has infringed on any of its patents involving the fourth-generation network technology Long Term Evolution.

Samsung is known to possess 12.2 percent of the world’s LTE patents, which is the world’s No. 3 in terms of patent portfolio, with Nokia and Qualcomm in the lead with 18.9 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively, according to global consulting group Thomson Reuters.

The Korean company is also reported to be discussing with U.S. mobile carriers on removing the features of the eight wireless devices which Apple says Samsung is infringing.

The event takes place as Samsung found methods to get around the three utility patents of Apple’s, such as the pinch-to-zoom, bounce back and tap-to-zoom.

Samsung will also feature its multi-operating system strategy and showcase smartphones that run on mobile platforms other than Google’s Android, like Microsoft’s Windows 8 mobile OS, at the IFA electronics trade show in Berlin later this week.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)