Samsung strikes back: lawsuits against Apple in South Korea, Japan and Germany

A week after Apple’s intellectual property infringement suit against Samsung in the US, the South Korean electronics giant has fired back. Samsung Electronics said it is suing Apple Inc. for patent rights violations.

AP has reported that Samsung is accusing Apple of violating its rights to 10 smartphone and computer patents. The company filed lawsuits in Seoul, Tokyo and Mannheim, Germany.

The lawsuits come only days after Apple sued Samsung in a California court. Apple alleges Samsung’s Galaxy line of smartphones and tablet computers copy Apple’s popular iPad and iPhone.

Samsung is a major patent holder. Post Apple’s allegations against Samsung, Bloomberg last week quoted a Samsung spokesman as saying that “Samsung will respond actively to this legal action taken against the Korean company”. The Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) reported that another Samsung spokesman said over the phone that they believe “Apple has violated [Samsung] patents in communications standards” and that Samsung is “considering a counterclaim.” Instead of playing defensive, Samsung is using Apple’s own arsenal to fight back.

The lawsuits are the latest in a long string of patent disputes among phone makers. In recent years Apple, Microsoft Corp., Nokia Corp., HTC Corp. and others have taken legal action to protect their intellectual property rights.

HP sues former executive

Adrian M. Jones, who resigned from HP recently as a Senior Vice President of HP’s ESSN (Enterprise server, storage and networks) business unit in APJ and joined Oracle as Senior Vice President, Hardware Sales, Asia has been sued by HP for carrying companies’ confidential data along with him to the company arch rival.

According to the case filed by HP at California court, on February 11, 2011, just days before Jones resigned from HP, he utilized backup software to copy hundreds of files and thousands of e-mails from his HP computer to a portable USB storage, including files containing HP’s highly confidential, proprietary and trade secret information that Jones could utilise in his new position with a direct competitor.

When Jones resigned on February 16, 2011, on the next day he returned to HP, his employee badge, a computer security key, the company laptop, his company Blackberry, and his company credit card. Jones did not return the portable USB storage device that he used to copy hundred of files and thousands of e-mails.

HP has demanded the return of all documents and has called for damages to be awarded.

HP and Oracle became intense rivals after Oracle’s purchase of Sun Microsystems pushed it firmly into the server hardware market, in which it previously cooperated with HP. Relations soured last year when ousted HP Chief Executive Mark Hurd joined Oracle. Legal wrangling over Hurd’s hiring by Oracle are still unresolved.