Samsung drops Apple countersuit

 

Gallery

By Reuters and Nicole Kobie

Posted on 4 Jul 2011 at 08:52

Samsung has dropped a lawsuit against Apple that claimed the iPhone maker copied many of Samsung's innovations.

The suit was in response to accusations from Apple that Samsung had done the very same, "slavishly" stealing ideas from its iPhone and iPad for its own Galaxy line-up.

Bloomberg quoted Nam Ki Yung, a spokesman for the Suwon, South Korea-based company as saying the company wanted to "streamline" the legal proceedings.

“Samsung will continue to actively defend and protect our intellectual property,” he told Bloomberg.

Apple and Samsung are part of a wider web of litigation among phone makers and software firms over who owns the patents used in smartphones and tablets, as rivals aggressively rush into a market which Apple jumpstarted with iPhone and iPad.

Apple is a major customer of Samsung, using its chips in its products. That tight relationship lead Judge Koh to tell the two companies to "just get along".

Apple and Samsung didn't immediately reply to requests for comment.