It seems the smartphone patent wars is hotting up after news has broken of Samsung suing Osram because of a spat over LED displays and Apple’s recent victory in the battle against HTC.
Samsung vs Osram
You may not have previously heard of Osram but this company means business in the smartphone arena, and is owned by Siemens. Like Samsung, Osram also makes light emitting diodes (LEDs, to you and me) and the argument that began back in June when Osram accused Samsung of infringing its LED patents has suddenly escalated and Samsung is now suing Osram.
Samsung filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission against Osram. If successful, the result could be a ban on Osram to import certain LED products into the US, “however, the complaints may also be settled by the payment of licensing fees”, BBC News points out.
And Samsung isn’t alone in its patent war with Osram – LG was also accused by Osram in June and has since launched legal action against the company.
Samsung is also busily pursuing legal action against Apple over technology used in its iPhones and iPad tablets.
Apple vs HTC
Apple is especially busy when it comes to patent wars, with wars against Samsung and Motorola as well as HTC.
Last week brought bad news for HTC, though, as the US International Trade Commission ruled the company violated two Apple patents when it built handsets on the Android OS.
HTC plans to appeal against the ruling but faces a hefty penalty if unsuccessful – the US could ban imports of certain HTC phones.
The final decision won’t be announced until 6th December.
Industry analysts are predicting that the smartphone manufacturers engaged in patent wars will settle on licensing agreements in the end, which could mean price hikes for consumers as phone companies pass on the additional costs.
MarketWatch quotes Tero Kuittinen, an analyst with MKM Partners, who said: “Our concern is that HTC may end up paying Apple, Microsoft and possibly Oracle, Nokia and a host of other major [intellectual-property] powerhouses licensing fees in the future,” adding that although the ruling hasn’t been finalised “we expect it to embolden companies like Oracle and Nokia to press new cases against HTC.”
We’ll have to wait and see what happens in the latest patent wars between the big hitters of the smartphone world – and whether the future of Android will be altered if manufacturers building handsets on this OS continue to come under the threat of legal action.