Google Is Central to Latest Apple-Samsung Case

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Apple and Samsung Electronics are squaring off in a new round of their long-running patent feud. This time, however, the docket might as well read Apple v. Google.

The trial, which starts in US District Court in San Jose (CA) on March 31, 2014, shows how the battle lines are drawn across the mobile-phone landscape.

Apple and Samsung are the biggest makers of smartphones and reap most of the industry's profits. But when it comes to software, the world is divided between Apple and Google, whose dominant operating systems give them control over the apps where smartphone users spend most of their time.

In this case, Apple is accusing Samsung of violating five of its software patents. Samsung contends that it licensed four of those features as part of Google's Android operating system, and that Google had been working on the technology before Apple filed its patents.

"Google will be a lot more front and center than in previous cases," said Michael Carrier, a patent expert and law professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. "Google vs. Apple makes it more of a clash of the titans on the same turf."


Google Is Central to Latest Apple-Samsung Case Apple Vs. Samsung Could Have Big Implications For Google (Fast Company) Apple and Samsung head back to court. Again. (Washington Post)